Famous Last Words
by October Sky
Summary: Life seems to be great as Jack drowns himself in debt to bail Kate out of jail, until a series of unfortunate events strikes both Jack and Sawyer who, of course, blame each other. Only problem? They’re both coincidentally two dozen states away.
1. Default Chapter

Famous Last Words

Chapter One

SPOILER ALERT!

Some spoilers are involved with this story! I don't know how many though.

IMPORTANT NOTE!

This story is a sequel to a series(all stories found in bio) but really, all you need to know is..

1. I went with the story line about Boone being on the meds. I have this big back ground thing about that, but I don't think it's all that important, since Boone will only have two short scenes in this story.

2. Jack knows all about Sawyer's parents and everything, and also knows that Sawyer talked to his dad in the bar.

3. You'll just need to know at the end that I made Alex just this girl from New York.

I think that covers it..besides that Kate went back to jail, and oh yeah, Jack does know that Kate won the lottery.

Disclaimer: The one and only! _Lost _is owned by J.J and co. at ABC, and "Famous Last Words" is a song by Billy Joel. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" is by John Lennon and Paul McCartney(assuming) and performed by the Beatles.

Summary: Life seems to be great as Jack drowns himself in debt to bail Kate out of jail, until a series of unfortunate events strikes both Jack and Sawyer who, of course, blame each other. Only problem? They're both coincidentally two dozen states away.

And now, for the beginning chapter..

YO! Everybody! Listen up! Imagine this chapter as one of those cheesy movie montage they used to open films! Yeah..

Wow..almost an entire page wasted of author's notes..NOW!

FINALLY!

THE BEGINNING!

YAY!

Okay, now really..sorry 'bout that!

Two weeks. Two long..miserable..weeks. And he hated it. He was really beginning to hate time. Just the thought of it. That every day of his life..every..single..day..was exactly the same. Nothing changed. Timeless. Yet it still exsisted. Like the universe was out to get him. And it was. For example, that puddle that just appeared out of nowhere, leaving a clear path for Jack to stumble through as he made his way to his car parked in the bottom east level of the local LA hospital.

Here I stand head in head

Face turned to the wall

Sighing, Jack paused before opening the car door, and threw himself in, the sound of the slamming door echoed through the dark garage. He looked up in the mirror and stared at himself, good in long, still surprised that who he was facing was the real Jack Shepard that people saw everyday. He didn't feel like himself, but still, it was him. Shaking himself out of it, Jack started up the engine, and looked back, backing out of the lot.

If she's gone I can't go on

Feeling two foot small

The lights of LA had always been brighter than Jack's liking, making three in the morning look like six in the afternoon as some late clubbers making their way out of parties, laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing. People that had no bigger problems than if their socks matched in the morning or not. Jack knew he would kill for a life like that, rather he deserved it or not.

Everywhere people stare

Traffic then came to a halt, and the pedestrians that crossed the street casually looked Jack's way. but somehow, it seemed as though there was some conspiracy as their eyes bore into his.

Each and every day

A yell from a car behind him pulled Jack out of his paranoia, and he once again started up the engine, heading towards a small coffee shop whose bright neon lights stung the starless night trying to peek through the clouds. Pulling over, Jack got out of the car, and waited impatiently in the small line.

I can see them laugh at me and I hear them say

"Thanks," Jack muttered as he took the coffee and sipped it.

A heavenly smell of cream and sugar engulfed him, and it was like he was just introduced to chocolate.

Hey! You've got to hide your love away

He got some odd looks from bystanders, but just ignored them, making his way back to his car, and continued the trip home.

Hey! You've got to hide your love away

As he drove, Jack couldn't help but to think about Kate, and what she was doing right now. No matter how much she had hurt him with that last lie, and all the lies before that, Jack found himself worrying constantly about what kind of hell the male inmates could be giving her, and if she was able to take it. Then again, he had no idea how strong she really was.

How could I even try?

I can never win

Hearing them, seeing them

In the state I'm in

Pulling into the right lane, Jack slowed as he neared his apartment building, and it hit him for the first time that he was alone. Really, truly, alone.

How could she say to me

Love will find a way

But maybe, he thought, he could still find a way to get back Kate If he really, really worked at it..

Gather round, all you clowns

And let me hear you say

Then again, Jack was broke himself. Two months away from work did a lot to a doctor, if he even still had a job, which is what he just spent four hours at the hospital trying to find out. Most of it was greetings and sympathetic looks, though the nurse at the front desk claimed they were planning a surprise party tomorrow, and joked that Jack had ruined it. Jack figured it was a good thing. He hated surprise parties, or parties of any kind, for that matter.

Hey! You've got to hide your love away

He finally found a space in the front line on the street, and shut off the car, stepping out and walking towards the stairwell.

Hey! You've got to hide your love away

But he didn't get far before he heard profane yelling coming from the apartment's alleyway. Voices demanding their money as well as a few other words Jack couldn't understand, and some that made him hope the woman with three kids below him had her windows shut. He listened as he heard someone being punched in the gut over and over again, with a grunt of pain. Though whoever it was probably was some criminal, Jack figured if he could live on an island with one, or two of them, he could handle whoever it was, Jack kicked at the brick wall, praying that the noise would drive the gang away, not bring them to Jack. He just wasn't up to a fight tonight.

"Dammit, the cops!" Some guy yelled.

Even though no wailing from cop cruisers were in hearing distance, Jack still heard footsteps run off, and had to chuckle as he walked into the alley, feeling it was his duty to at least check up on the guy.

Entering the alley, it was hard to tell if the body was dead or alley, thrown lackidaisily against a dumpster, the man's jacket hanging loosely off his shoulders. Blood stained the ground beneath him as Jack walked, and he prepared himself for the worse, but nothing was bad as what he actually got, or more like, who the victim was. Sawyer.

Author's Note: Hehe..evil cliffy, I'm aware. Lol. Thanks for all the reviews last fic! Hope the sequel suites you well and I think I've got at least three fics lined up after this, so i'm set for a while, and as soon as the _Dead Zone_ comes back on in June(cheers) I'll probably be doing more screen plays for that. So, hope you liked it!

Next up, on "Famous Last Words":

Sawyer wakes up finding himself once again under Jack's medical care, which he doesn't like at all, but(ha for him) can't do anything about it, except confess why those guys were after him. And as for Jack, he tries to scrounge(weird word there) up more to bail Kate out of jail, and let me give you a hint: he doesn't get it from Hurley.

Hope to see you then, and thanks again for the reviews!

October Sky


	2. Chapter Two

Famous Last Words

Chapter Two

Sawyer stirred awake and immediately groaned in pain as his eyes tried to open on instinct, without his approval. Finally awake, he readied himself to adjust to the light, but found himself instead staring at the ceiling of a dimmed apartment, and his eyes darted around, and just as he was about to consider kidnapping, he noticed the man sitting not far from him was the man he had prayed he'd never even have to hear of again.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said, slurred.

"You're awake," Jack said simply.

A box sat in front of Jack on an old coffee table, filled to the rim with what looked like photos and documents.

"What's that?" He asked, curious.

"Junk" Jack muttered, throwing the picture he was holding back into the box, kicking it aside as he threw Sawyer an ice pack, "for your head."

"What happened?" He said, moaning as the cool ice touched his pounding head.

"I was hoping you could tell me that," Jack said, "who were those guys?"

"Just some gang I was in trouble with," Sawyer said, "so why ain't I at a hospital or something?"

"I haven't had a pay check in three months," Jack said, "I don't even have enough to pay off the bills. Do you think I'm going to spend any spare money on you?"

"Thought the doctors were the ones making it in the world," Sawyer said, sitting up in the chair he had been sitting in, "and if your so tight on money, why do you got all this junk layin' around?"

"My mom through it in here," Jack shrugged, "guess she got tired of having it at her place."

"So she didn't take the news easily, huh?"

"What makes you think that?" Jack said, looking at him.

"'Her place'?" Sawyer quoted with a snort.

"Talk to her about that," Jack said, as he reached for the remote to turn on the small tv in front of him, "because she sure isn't talking to me.

Sawyer didn't say anything as Jack turned on the television and watched the news, and when he was about to ask what was the point of watching the news at noon, he had his question answered as Kate's mugshot popped up on the screen, and Jack let the reporter talk for a few minutes about this 'alleged criminal' before shutting the screen off abruptly, and standing up, grabbing a jacket that hung over the couch.

"Where are you going?" Sawyer demanded sitting up.

"To get her out of there," Jack said, determined, as he reached the door, throwing it opened.

"I thought you said you didn't have any money," Sawyer pointed out.

"I don't care."

(Space)

The shackles on Kate's feet clanged in nerves as she was led by one of the guards to the visitors area, a place new to Kate, who never had any visitors. So she couldn't help but to wonder who was there, but her thoughts were soothed when she saw Jack sitting in the seat on the other side of the glass window.

"You have five minutes," the guard informed her dryly, and Kate nodded as he stepped out behind the booth, where he'd be keeping a close eye on the two-way mirror.

Her hand shook as she picked up the old, fingerprint coated phone that would become her communication line to Jack.

"Hey," she greeted, and was surprised to find her voice dry and cracked.

"Hey," Jack greeted back quietly.

She managed the smallest smile as she could, and said, "So how's life treating you?"

"Well.." Jack trailed, thoughtful, "my boss thought I was over-stressed, so he offered me a weekend at his beach house on the shore."

"What did you say?" Kate said, amused, realizing how much she missed being able to talk to someone.

"I didn't," Jack said, "I think I threw up on him."

They both shared a chuckle until Kate's throat dried up again, and she had to swallow, clearing it. She then looked down in embarrassment.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"No," Jack said, shaking his head, "I'm sorry- I could've done something to stop them."

"Like what?" Kate asked with a sarcastic smile ." Blow up their plane?"

She immediately wished she hadn't said that, remembering the guard standing behind her, and the still-standing question "how did the plane crash?".

"I'm going to get you out of here," Jack said, more determined than before.

"No, Jack," Kate said, "you don't have to-"

"I do," Jack cut in, "and I want to. I am going to get you out of here. You don't deserve a place like this."

"The bail's four and a half million dollars," Kate said, "four and a half _million_. Where are you going to find that kind of money? Jack?"

But Jack had already zoned out, realizing the obvious solution had been right in front of him the whole time.

(Space)

Hurley's place stood in a neighborhood outside of west California, an hour and a half drive from where Jack was before at the jail house. His 2003 SUV(a birthday present from his father two years ago) was now low on gas, but Jack didn't stop as he found himself accidentally running two red lights, and he had to lie to one policeman, saying that his grandmother was having a heart attack. The guilt got him in fact that his grandmother died eight years ago. But none of that mattered now as Jack banged on Hurley's front door.

"Dude!" Hurley shouted from inside. "I'm coming. Hold on."

The screen door opened and Hurley's annoyed expression lit up in recognition.

"Jack!" He said, surprised. "Dude, come in."

He opened the front door and Jack stepped in, looking around on first instinct. The house was small, one-story with dark yellow painted walls, and one glance at the place told Jack that it was long-inhabited.

"Nice place," he commented.

"Nah," Hurley said, "it's my ma's."

"Still living at home?" Jack said, amused.

"Nah, I bought her a place," Hurley said, "told her I'd fix this one up."

Jack noted the half-torn wallpaper and pulled up carpet.

"So how's that going?"

"Dude, I''m tellin' ya," Hurley said, sighing, "fat people weren't made for this kind of work."

At that Jack found himself laughing.

"So come on, sit down," Hurley said, and Jack took the offer exhausted, "do you want something to drink? Eat? I think ma bought out the grocery store when I got back home. Unless..do you even live around here? I hope you didn't have to drive long-"

"An hour and a half," Jack admitted, "but actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"You name it, you got it," Hurley said, "I mean, I owe you for life. Have you seen the articles? We're famous! But I just talked to Charlie and-

"Oh, how is Charlie?" Jack said, feeling guilty, having forgotten all about Charlie, Claire, and the baby.

"Good," Hurley chimed, "both of them. And the kid's great."

"Good, good," Jack nodded, "listen, I just came from the prison up north, and I just saw Kate-"

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that," Hurley said sympathetically, "dude I'm sorry. How's she taken' it?"

"Yeah- um," Jack looked down, "not that well. Hey- I was wondering if you could help me out with something."

"Sure, anything."

"Can I borrow four and a half million dollars?"

Hurley laughed hysterically, and Jack just looked at him in horror, wondering if by some crazed mistake, he had imagined Charlie telling him that Hurley had won the lottery.

"Oh dude," Hurley said, seeing Jack's face, "you're serious?"

"Yeah, I am," Jack said, standing up, "I mean, you know her. She's harmless."

"Or is she?"

"Don't talk like that," Jack said, "she deserves the second chance as much as any of us do."

"Then give it to her," Hurley said, "aren't doctors like rich and all that stuff?"

"Not after three months away from the job," Jack said, "come on, why can't you help me out?"

"Dude I have no money!" Hurley said finally.

Jack just stared at him.

"What?"

"I promised my ma I'd be able to take care of her so I had to save a lot of it, you know?" Hurley said, and Jack nodded, remembering making the same promise to his father a long time ago.

A _long_ time ago.

"What about the rest of it?" Jack asked.

"I kind of went crazy," Hurley said, "I mean, you know, post-island shock or something. Gave a little to Claire to help out with the baby, and Michael was broke and is having a hard time getting work and-"

"No, no, it's cool," Jack said, "I understand."

"Dude, I'm sorry, really," Hurley said truthfully, "Look, I can do you in for two million, but that's all. Sorry- I'd do something if I could, really."

"I understand," Jack said again, and grew quiet, wondering what he should do now, "two's good. It's a start."

He sighed as Hurley wrote out a check, and Jack figured that this was how homeless people must feel when it came to eating dinner. He'd have to remember to stop in at the shelter when things turned around again.

"Thanks," Jack said, taking the check, "now I guess the only question is, where am I going to find two and a half million dollars?"

"Hey," Hurley said, "have you tried Boone?"

(Space)

Jack's car was now fully gassed and rested four floors beneath the concrete walked, and he counted until he found Boone's apartment- number 234. Easy enough to remember, he figured. He knocked on the door, and immediately received an answer.

"Hold on!" Boone called from inside.

The door opened to Boone, who was damp from most likely swimming, as Jack recalled Boone being a lifeguard.

"Oh, hey," Boone greeted, "what's up?"

"I was wondering if you could do me a favor," Jack said.

Boone's place was no cleaner than Hurley's, though suddenly lighter. The one thing both places had in common were that they certainly didn't look like a rich person lived in them, which Jack had to give both Hurley and Boone credit for.

"You want me to give you four and a half million dollars?" Boone repeated, just as amused as Hurley.

"You have it, right?" Jack said.

"Actually, I only have three million," Boone said, "and half of that's Shannon's."

Jack sighed.

"Look," Boone said, moving into the kitchen, knocking over a few bottles of medicine in the process.

"Don't worry, I've got it," Jack said, already bending down.

"No!" Boone said, a little too quickly. "It's cool. Just leave it."

Boone continued his journey to his refrigerator, which he opened, and took out what Jack assumed to be a beer, but was really just a bottle of water. He then realized that with Boone's past with alcohol, he probably wasn't much of a drinker, or a partygoer.

"Anyway," Boone said, sitting the water back down after taking a sip, "I owe you for life."

"As I've heard," Jack muttered under his breath.

"And after all those times you had to save my life, I guess the least I could do is pay you back," Boone said, taking a blank check out of a drawer, "I can do you in for two million."

"I thought you said half of it was Shannon's," Jack said, eyebrow raised.

"Boone?" Came a female's voice from a hallway, and both Jack and Boone turned to where a blonde stood in a Hawaiian-pattern tankini, drying her damp hair. "Oh- sorry.."

"No it's all right," Jack said, feeling awkward, "um-"

"Carrie," Boone introduced, face flushing red in embarrassment, "this is Carrie- my-um-"

"His girlfriend," Carrie said, reaching out and shaking Jack's hand in a firm grip, "we just met. You must be Jack, right? I swear I've heard so much about that island that I could've lived there myself. Too bad for me though, could've used the two month vacation."

"You might want to rethink that before you get on any airplanes," Jack said seriously, making Carrie smile.

"I like him," Carrie said, "he's cute. You single?"

Boone cleared his throat, and tore of the check, which Carrie grabbed before Jack could take it.

"Wow," she said, "two million. And he wouldn't even by me a burger earlier."

Boone just chuckled lightly, going with it, and while thinking that the two sounded like bickering parents, Jack couldn't help but to notice that Carrie looked like she hadn't been anywhere near a burger in years.

"I'll take that," Jack said, taking the check from Carrie's hands, "and thanks. I owe you.

"Nah," Boone said, rubbing his neck nervously, "Shannon does. Trust me."

Jack looked from Boone to his girlfriend and figured he should leave before the police barged in and shot the tension down.

"Um.." Jack began.

How was he supposed to thank someone who just gave him two million dollars? So he did it the easy way.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Boone said, opening the door for Jack as he stepped out, "and..um..have a good life."

"Yeah," Jack said, "you too."

(Space)

Sawyer was bored. He was bored, and his head hurt. Actually, he was bored, and his head hurt, and his side hurt too. So naturally, he couldn't move, which was bad since he was starving, though he doubted Jack had anything to eat anyway. Or at least anything that didn't have two and a half month old mold growing over it. What he really wanted was a burger, or at least a slice of pizza, something he probably get just by calling it in phone-order, or shouting at the pizza guy parked downstairs. If he could move that was.

On a fifth try, Sawyer was finally able to sit up, and once he got there, he was actually frustrated when he realized that after all that, it didn't even hurt that much. He began to stand up but paused when he spotted Jack's box of 'junk' laying on the ground. Curiosity got the better of him, and he drug the box over to the edge of the couch, and took out the first item on top: a death certificate. He lay it down gently on the floor, and nervously glanced towards the door before he began looking through it. Most of the stuff was photos, some black and white, and all of people that he didn't recognized, but he figured, why would he? Then his hands fell on something they probably shouldn't have: a photo.

Sitting on top of a small jewelry box. And one look at the small box told Sawyer the story between Jack and the woman his arms were around in the picture. The only question left hanging in the air was how the relationship ended, and Sawyer began to get the feeling that he didn't want to know. The one odd thing about the picture was that just the thought of Jack being with another woman besides Kate didn't sound right, even to him. With that, he placed everything back into the box, and looked around until he found a couple of blank checks in a drawer in a bookcase, and grabbed a pen next to it, and began writing.

(Space)

Sighing, Jack fumbled with the lock and key until finally throwing open the door. He had only fulfilled part of his mission, and prisons didn't settle for partial credit. Where was he going to find half a million dollars?

Half of him was expecting to fine the place left a mess, or signs that Sawyer hadn't been the only one staying in the apartment while he was gone as he entered, but he was proven wrong when he found the place exactly as he had left it. Feeling there was more to the story, like why Sawyer wasn't still there, he looked around suspiciously, until he found a note, which answered all of his questions. Well, most of them anyway. He reread it after skimming, thinking he had imagined the words forming in front of him, written on a blank check he had long forgotten about:

$5000

for Kate

Author's Note: Okay. I lied. I just figured that Boone probably wouldn't have just four million stashed away, but I've had that last part planned for a while. Nice Sawyer. See, he's harmless.

Crazyhorsegirl- Lol! I don't think my brain could register those plots. Complicated..but I love your reviews! So you were partially right, sorry I had to go back on my word but it was for the greater good(hm..sound familiar?)

Next up, on "Famous Last Words":

Kate's freed from jail, but the first stop is the bank, where she and Jack get caught in a holdup, which leads to Kate going down south, in search for Sawyer.

And guess what! I'm going back to the island after this fic, and picking right where I left off, without the rescue, because I'm getting all of these ideas and must do something with them before I go insane! So, here's some I have planned..

(Currently untitled)

Just as Jack and Kate begin to embark on their new romance, Alex worries about herself as she starts having weird dreams again, and the rift between her and Danielle doesn't help. Alex-centric.

Only the Lonely OR For Those Who Wonder

Going back to when Charlie and Claire were kidnapped. Jack and Kate go out in search for the missing castaways, but many obstacles draw them away from what could be a romantic trip in the jungle(ha! What's romantic about that jungle?) including storms, and a huge waterfall that..uh..doesn't really like Jack.

Thanks for all the reviews! Glad yall came back!

October Sky


	3. Chapter Three

Famous Last Words

Chapter Three

Author's Note: That I won't be making fun of southerners in this story, since I am one. Some of my friends and I may be incredibly slow when it comes to jokes, but other than that, we aren't country hicks like everyone thinks. In fact, out of the three schools I've been to, and countless people I know, I think I only know a total of five people that like country music.

Author's Note2: (aka, I'm an idiot) Yeah, that last part last chapter, just pretend like I left out a zero..or two..because..um..I suck at math, and 5000 is not half a million. So however much half a million is, just pretend that that's what Sawyer gave Jack..yeah..

Two fifteen..two sixteen..two seventeen. Jack sighed. It was the first time that Jack could admit that he was an impatient person. A very impatient person. And impatient people didn't go well with hospitals, annoying security guards, or prisons. But who could blame him?

His fingers twitched madly as Jack beat them against the staring wheel, glancing every other second towards the door where any minute Kate would come running out to him. He could only imagine. Now that Sawyer was gone(hopefully gone, anyway) it brought on more and more opportunities for the brewing relationship, but Jack had to keep reminding himself not to move to fast, as he had a tendency to do. He'd probably scare Kate away before asking her out to dinner.

Just then, a small bang echoed in the parking lot, and Jack's head jerked up, and he broke out in the first smile he had in a long time as he got out of his car, greeting Kate, who nervously stepped outside the side door, a guard watching her every move until she reached Jack. But when she did, the two just stood there, partially in shock of being able to see each other again.

"You look good," Kate said finally, in a dry voice.

Jack laughed a little, and then looked down at his shoes.

"You, um..want something to eat?" He asked, figuring that would be one question Kate would have to answer.

"Are you paying?" Kate teased.

"Will ten minutes at the bank kill you?" Jack said, relieved.

Kate walked over to the passenger side of what she assumed to be Jack's car.

"I've been waiting two weeks," she said, smiling, "I don't think ten minutes is going to hurt."

(Space)

Three fifteen..three sixteen..three seventeen. This time, Jack's fingers tapped against his pants leg as he stood in the mile long line at the bank. Feeling guilty, he glance over to Kate, who agreed to sit and wait on a bench provided under a fake palm tree during the 'ten minute' wait. So much for trusting banks.

"Next!" The accountant called, and Jack was about to step forward(now only ten feet away from the booth) when a loud voice bellowed, echoing through the quiet atmosphere of the room.

"Everybody, get down!" A man's voice demanded from the door way.

Screams followed four even gunshots, along with pops of broken glass.

"Hey! You!"

Jack didn't even realized he was being talked to until someone grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him to the side.

"Get down!"

Recovering from the shock that Kate was now beside him, Jack unfroze himself, and managed to able Kate and himself to crawl to the wall where they sat knee to knee.

"I want all your valuables, now!" The same man shouted, as one padlocked the door and two others pulled the blinds down over the windows.

"Kate." Jack whispered as people began throwing watches and bracelets into the center of the floor as if brainwashed. "There's a phone in my back pocket.

"They'll never know you have it if you don't-"

"No," Jack hissed, "dial 9-1-1, or something- quick."

"No!" Kate whispered back. "No Jack, I'm afraid.."

"Don't be afraid Kate," Jack said, clinging on tightly to her hand, "these things happen all the time."

"No, you don't understand-"

She was about to explain when she was caught.

"You!" The man shouted to her. "Come here!"

That was when Kate realized that she recognized that voice. She _knew_ that voice.

"I said come here-" the man said, and Kate found herself being pulled to her feet, though her hand was still permanently attached to Jack's, who remained hovered between squatting and a full stance. "Let go of her."

The man jerked Kate hard, but Jack went up with her, only to find himself being punched straight in the nose, falling back painfully against the wall. Before he could muster up the strength to fight back Kate was pulled into a side room.

(Space)

At the same time she tried to jerk away, Kate was tossed aside against the far wall in what appeared to be somebody's office.

"What the hell are you doing alive?"

"Jason," Kate breathed as the man pulled off his ski mask to reveal Jason, her old boyfriend of three days.

"Fun game," Jason said, "wish I could get myself stranded on an island every time i got myself into trouble. But no. i have to deal with the police instead.

"I'm sorry," Kate said, choking on her words.

"It's a little late for 'I'm sorry'," Jason spat, "how 'bout ten thousand in hospital bills and one thousand in jail bail?"

"Jason, please-"

"Jason please," Jason mocked, "what the hell were you thinking. Setting me up on some scam to get a stupid toy airplane. I bet you don't even have that anymore, do you?"

She didn't. Kate hadn't even thought about the plane. Her thoughts had been with Jack, worry and wanting, and thinking that ever since the rescue, maybe rescue wasn't such a good thing at all.

"So who was that guy you were sitting so close to? Boy friend?" Kate tensed. "Touched a nerve?"

"If you heard Jack-"

"Jack?" Jason said. "Ah- now I remember. The doctor/hero/leader. He's lucky I wasn't on the plane. I would've killed his over-hearted ego the first night.

"Don't you talk-"

"I won't," Jason said, "listen. I've got things to do. I could care less about this stupid bank or the people inside it- besides you, of course. But I'll make you a deal. You get out of this town, and swear that I'll never have to see your face again, or they'll be no Jack Shepard for the news to interview Monday."

_What interview?_ Kate had to think. Or maybe Jason was just messing with her mind.

"If you haven't noticed," he continued, "there's a door to the back alley in this room."

He cocked the gun at her once more.

"And don't worry, hero," he snarled, "everyone's making it home safely. Jack may have one hell of a migraine in the morning though."

With that, Jason swung open the door, and left Kate on the floor, contemplating on what to do..

(Space)

Gravel spun under the wheels of Sawyer's Ford pickup, a little present he bought for his own birthday last year. He'd gone with your basic black, and tented the windows for his own privacy- which he sometime shared, and not with the guys he usually got drunk with on Fridays.

Merging left, he drove past the sign that read 'Little Rich', the small town about three hours and two back roads out of Nashville that he lived in. The skies were blue up ahead with a few clouds that strayed the horizon, and there were reports of tornado watches all across the radio. Sawyer had to snort. Typical Tennessee.

There was a warning every time it rained, every time it was cloudy, hell, someone's tree would start blowing and they would get all paranoid about it. He said why didn't they all move up north where it did nothing but snow(kids complained about the lack of it anyway) and leave the town to him. He wouldn't mind. But his thoughts of the weather were distracted as he noticed a lone figured walking along side the road. It was a woman, with long, brown, hair, hugging herself tightly as she scuffed her shoes against the coat. Sawyer smiled to himself as he pulled over, rolling down the dark tented windows.

"Well well well," he said, causing the woman to jump out of her skin, "so you goin' over the river and through the woods, or did the plane take you to the wrong grandmother's?"

"God Sawyer," Kate said, shaking a little as she walked along with the slow moving car, "you scared the hell out of me."

"Speakin' of hell," Sawyer said, "what brings you to this one?"

"You sure do seem fond of it," Kate pointed out.

"True," Sawyer admitted, "how 'bout you hop in, and I'll show you around, and tell ya all about it."

Kate smiled, and Sawyer stopped the car.

(Space)

Sawyer took brand new house keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door to the house he hadn't step foot in in ages. It was weird, coming home again, to a real home. Not a hotel room, or an apartment, but a home. But the bad part was that he was alone, because when your alone, there isn't anyone there to keep you sane.

It took two tries for the lamp to flicker on, and when the room lit up, even Sawyer was taken aback by the house's layout. A grand piano he had long ago forgotten about sat on the far side of the room, and a box of old music books sat beside it. A bookcase lined with photos, family books and albums, and on the bottom shelf, records, was built into the wall in front of it. An old tv sat on a homemade wooden stand. The kitchen ran into the living room, and a small, three seated table was in the center of it. Kate even spotted an old toy fire truck under a couch, but was afraid to mention it to Sawyer.

Finally, Sawyer sat a box he was carrying down, and sighed as the weight was lifted off of him.

"Well," he said, "make yourself at home."

"Wait," Kate said, stopping, "this is your house?"

"My name's on the papers, ain't it?"

"I wouldn't know," Kate said, as Sawyer walked towards the far side of the room.

She watched carefully as Sawyer sat down at the grand, the dirt from his tattered jeans scratching the slick black seat, and fingered a few keys.

"I didn't know you played piano," Kate commented, making Sawyer jump at the slightest.

"I don't," Sawyer said, "I can do a damn good Ray Charles impersonation though.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"I don't think I want to see _that_ impersonation."

"Yeah, well it was my mom's," Sawyer said, standing back up, gazing down at the instrument in front of him.

"Huh?" Kate said, examining the shelves.

"The piano," Sawyer explained, lifting part of the head up, checking the tuning pipes. "it was my mom's. She used to play. I guess I was always one of those geeks who wanted to learn-" he sighed drastically, "but there was no one to teach me."

"Oh," Kate said quietly, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Sawyer said, gently closing the top of the piano as he watch Kate examine 'his' stuff.

"This your mom?" She asked, picking up a photo taken obviously at a shop, with a white background.

The photo was of a little boy, maybe six, seven at the oldest, with sandy blonde hair that hung in his eyes, on his mother's shoulders, laughing. The woman in the picture had a natural beauty to her, long blonde hair, blue eyes. Her son had clearly inherited her looks.

"Yeah," Sawyer said, taking the photo and looking at it, "I was one ugly-ass kid."

"I dunno," Kate teased, taking it back, and putting the picture back where it belonged on the shelf, "you were pretty cute. Too bad looks can only last so long."

Sawyer playfully hit her in the shoulder as he picked up another box and moved it into the kitchen.

"I didn't know you liked jazz," Kate said, amused as she picked out an old, dusted, Ella Fitzgerald record.

"Mom's," Sawyer said simply, and Kate her a door open and soon after the sound of clinging glasses, "want a drink?"

"Sure," Kate said, putting the records back, "you know, if you have a good taste in music, don't hide it."

"Better than Jack's," Sawyer snorted, "found some old classic rock cds at his place."

"What's wrong with classic rock?" Kate shot back, before forgetting the important question. "And when were you at Jack's."

Sawyer came back into the living room with two bottles of beer, and handed one to Kate.

"Thanks," she muttered, opening it and taking a sip as Sawyer threw himself onto the couch, "but you never answered my second question."

Smiling, Sawyer pulled back some of the hair hanging from his mass of blonde hair, revealing a nice, developing, black-blue bruise.

"Some things never change," he shrugged.

"What the hell did you do to yourself?" Kate demanded, sitting down beside him and examining the cut. "Did Jack do that?"

"Nah," Sawyer said, taking a swig from his bottle, "I think he only stitched it."

"Then tell me what happened," Kate insisted, noticing up-close that the skin around Sawyer's jaw was bruised the slightest as well.

"Just some guys I'm in trouble with," he said casually, and was about to take another drink when Kate put out a hand, grabbing the bottle, "hey-"

"Some guys you're in trouble with?" She repeated. "What guys and why are you in trouble with them?"

"I guess they found out their girlfriends were cheating on me and I was their number one suspect," Sawyer said, smug, as if taking pride in the fact.

"What, is it like your job or something?"

Sawyer just shrugged.

"Wait," Kate said, slowly putting it together, "Jack's bail money for me didn't come from-"

"Nah," Sawyer said, "that fifty-thousand or whatever it was I lent to you? I've had that saved up in LA for years thinking I'd go back. I decided the other day I wasn't."

"Well thanks for the thought," Kate said dryly.

"You owe me," Sawyer said, smirking, "and I don't think there's anything carne blanche you'd want here."

Kate just smiled at him, and he looked back at her, and it took a moment before she realized what he must be thinking. The two. Alone. On a couch. In a house no one cared about any more. It didn't take a genius, and hell, if Kate wasn't willing to play along, why not get her a little drunk first?

"Actually," she said, breaking the silence, "a cheeseburger would be nice."

Sawyer's face fell the slightest before he sighed, and slapped his hands against his knees, sitting up.

"That," he said, "I can do."

Reaching down, he smiled a bit as he helped Kate stand.

"But, you still owe me for the bail."

Author's Note: I'm still trying to figure out how to add the next part in, so I decided to stop it there. Don't worry, I'm pushing towards Jate in this. Thanks for all the reviews! I couldn't believe how many I was getting!

Next time, on "Famous Last Words":

Don't get to used to Sawyer's house. You might see his backyard though. Hm..Jack's place might even turn back up again next chapter if I can fit it in. And let me tell, you, Jack is one very unhappy camper. Yeah, and when Sawyer turns up with Kate, it's even worse. And especially with the reason Sawyer and Kate go back in the first place. Oh, and I can let you in on a little secret about Sawyer's house: it's not Sawyer's house.

Hope you came again, and hoped you enjoyed it! Thanks again for the reviews!

October Sky


	4. Chapter Four

Famous Last Words

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: "A Home" is from the Dixie Chicks album _Home_, and I'm looking up the writer/composer.

_Not a night goes by_

_I don't dream of wandering_

_Through the home that might have been_

_And I listened to my pride_

_When my heart cried out for you_

_Now every day I wake again_

_In a house that might have been_

_A home_

Later that evening, Kate was enjoying the southern sun in the backyard of Sawyer's house, which was complete with a river that ran through the interior of the neighborhood.

"Some things never change," Sawyer said from behind her.

She turned from where she was sitting in the growing grass, to find Sawyer approaching her with his usual cocky smile.

"I was wondering when you'd come after me," Kate replied, turning back to the river.

"Well Jack's no longer here to do the dirty work," Sawyer said, "someone had to."

Whether or not the commit was meant to amuse, it didn't work, and Sawyer caught her smile fading. Sitting down next to her, he picked at a piece of grass that stood just a little bit higher than the others.

"Why'd you leave him anyway?"

Kate looked at him, puzzled.

"What?"

"You heard me."

Kate watched as Sawyer tore the strand of grass out of the ground and fingered it.

"I was afraid," Kate lied, looking away.

"Of Jack?" Sawyer said, amused.

"Of what would happen."

"Oh," Sawyer said plainly, "well that explains things."

Kate was about to reply when she noticed a stone that stuck out of a pile of dried mud.

"What's this?" She asked playfully, taking the stone as Sawyer made a grab for it. "Alana hearts James." She turned to him. "How sweet."

The words and symbols were permanently engraved by someone's pocket knife, though from what she had seen of Sawyer's writing, there was no way it was his inscription.

"Who is she?" Kate asked, smiling in amusement.

Sawyer grabbed the stone from her, making Kate lose her balance a bit. She looked at him and he cooled down by rubbing his fingers against the smooth granite.

"Who was she?" Sawyer corrected dully. "Just a friend."

Sighing, he threw the stone into the river, and as she watched the waters ripple in effect, and Kate realized that once again, she felt sorry for him.

"Want another drink?" Sawyer offered at last.

"Not really but I'm sure you do," said Kate.

"Mind another ride?" Sawyer said.

"You out all ready?"

"No, but I will be after this."

"Fine," Kate said, and dusted off her pants as she stood up, with help from Sawyer.

(Space)

Staying with Sawyer wasn't as bad as Kate thought it would be, though a lunch and dinner didn't really count as 'staying', she was slowly working her way to throwing the fact into Sawyer's face that she homeless, jobless, and had come all the way down south in a place where she was considered a stranger. And Sawyer was beginning to see that. She thought.

While alone with Kate, Sawyer had no one show off for, and his company was almost..well..pleasant. She hadn't been able to get much out of him, but she did find out that he had had a steady job at a car dealership before the crash, a job that he was fighting to get back, though he had enough to bail Kate and himself out of jail, if that ever had to be the case. He claimed it was only stashed away in the bank. The girl he had 'been with' before the crash had apparently not missed him all that much, and was currently in Hawaii with some friend of her cousins.

And in return she told him an equal share of her past, though no more than she ever let Jack in on. Kate, for one, couldn't ever recall a 'steady job' unless you counted waiting tables at night clubs, and most of her old boyfriends were either sweeping foreign countries, or binding time in jail, so she let Sawyer do most of the talking.

Sawyer had actually been thoughtful when he had taken her out, never even pushing the subject of leaving Jack. He bought her dinner at a small country diner where they got all the attention they wanted from the waiter, which wasn't much. Now, on the ride home, the radio played softly as the night drew around them in stripes of pink and purple across the sky, and Kate was just beginning to think that things were too good to be true when Sawyer jabbed his finger on the radio dial, turning the country station off.

"Hey!" Kate cried. "And I was just getting used to that!"

"Yeah?" Sawyer said, agitated. "Well it's getting on my nerves."

"Why?" Kate inquired. "It applies to you?"

Sawyer just huffed and looked out the window, before he immediately noticed something was wrong. The atmosphere was grayer than it should've been. Groups of people were crowded along the road from nearby homes, and a distant wailing was overheard. It didn't take long for the worry to build up in both Kate and Sawyer, though it was Sawyer who expressed it first.

"What the hell?" He muttered as he pulled his truck over to the side of the road.

"Sawyer-" Kate began, but didn't get anything else out as Sawyer threw open the door and ran out into the yard, Kate right behind him, and she was about to ask what was wrong before she saw her answer, "oh God."

What was left of Sawyer's house stood before them in ruins of ashes and smoke. Invisible exhaust slowly made its journey from the wreckage to the heavens, though first having to go through the obstacle of dodging masses of sprinkled water that chased after them.

"Sawyer-" Kate began again sympathetically, but this time was interrupted by one of the fireman.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to step away," he yelled over the hose.

"Like hell!" Sawyer yelled in protest.

"Sir, unless you know the whereabouts of the owner-"

"I am the owner!" Sawyer shouted.

"Oh," the fireman blinked, "oh. I'm sorry sir, but um..the police over there? They were wanting to ask some questions-"

Sawyer didn't give the fireman an opportunity to finish as he swirled around, stomping back towards the car.

"Sawyer!" Kate exclaimed, following him, "Sawyer, you've got to go back there and-"

Sitting up from where he had collapsed against the side of the Ford, Sawyer glared at her.

"I don't got to do anything," he said, slinging open the driver's side door.

"Where are you going?" Kate demanded, trying to catch him before he started up the engine.

"To find Jack."

(Space)

The next day, Kate found herself once again in LA, and surprised to find that Sawyer had taken note as to exactly where Jack lived, as if he was ready to plot revenge at any given point. The point was given.

"I still don't see why you're doing this!" Kate said as she fought to keep up with Sawyer as he hastily walked down the hall of Jack's apartment building. "Why would Jack just follow you home and then set it on fire?"

"I don't know," Sawyer said, "why don't you ask him?"

Before Kate could stop him, Sawyer was pounded Jack's door, and Kate swallowed as she heard the soft patter of feet against carpet, and the door creaked as someone opened it. That some one was, of course, Jack.

"I thought you left two days ago," Jack said.

Kate immediately felt her throat swell at the sound of Jack's exhausted, worn out voice. She tried to clear it as she felt gravity shift her weight over, and Kate didn't dare to give Jack so much as a glance as his eyes found her.

"Kate," he breathed softly.

Now sitting beside Sawyer on one of Jack's couches, Kate couldn't help but to get the feeling of a kid who just got caught trying to sneak out. Jack had went off in a spur of lectures, never even taking note that Sawyer was there.

"Jack!" Kate said finally, receiving a glare in protest from Jack. "Look, I know you were worried about me and all but seriously here. I'm not your kid, or your wife. I'm not even your girl friend."

At that Sawyer smirked and then quickly looked away, while Jack's expression turned to hurt, and Kate regretted what she had said.

"You wouldn't understand," she said quietly, remembering the entire reason she had left in the first place, "and besides, we have bigger issues to talk about."

Jack had to inhale a bit to calm down, but finally he said, "All right."

Two hours later, with what was left of their dinner of Chinese take-out, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer gathered in the living room of Jack's apartment, trying to make since of the whole thing. The only success they had gotten to was convincing Sawyer that Jack had nothing to do with the fire.

"I still don't get it," Jack said, "who'd be after you now? No one's even seen you for two and a half months."

"Guess time doesn't matter much these days, does it?" Sawyer said, glaring at him.

"What about those guys who beat you up?" Jack suggested. "They were saying something about owing money-"

"They got their money," Sawyer said dryly, picking at a piece of dried orange chicken left on his plate, "they aren't the revenge type anyway."

"Then what is it?" Jack said, getting frustrated. "Is there something special about the house? The land? Was there something in it?"

Sawyer grew quiet in realization, and Kate watched him closely.

"Sawyer?" She said slowly.

Sawyer drew in a breath before answering softly:

"It was my parent's house."

Author's Note: Dun dun dun/ Yes, I know, I'm evil to my poor characters(pats Sawyer on the head). I can let you in on another little secret though- he didn't really want to be in that house anyway. You'll see. Thanks so much for all the reviews!

Coming up next, in "Famous Last Words":

Not sure exactly sure what I want to do with next chapter yet, but I can give one little piece of advice to Jack: don't leave your apartment. Will he listen? Of course not.

Thanks again for reviewing!

October Sky


	5. Chapter Five

Famous Last Words

Chapter Five

At four fifteen AM, Sawyer was wide awake in the living room of Jack's apartment, in a chair across from where Kate lay sleeping on the couch. He had offered to stay at a hotel, which he would've rather done anyway, but he figured at least here he'd get free food, which led him to where he was now, sleepless in LA.

(Space)

The early morning light dawned on Sawyer through an open window behind him, and he was sickened by the quiet piano tunes and giggles coming from nearby. Opening one eye, he saw Jack and Kate sitting at some kind of mini piano stool, and Jack was failing at trying to teach Kate some waltz on an electric keyboard. Why hadn't he noticed it there last night? Because if he had, he would've smashed it.

"I hope I'm not paying for this," Sawyer muttered, causing Jack's hand to freeze above the note he was just about to play.

While Jack remained embarrassed, Kate just laughed at the situation.

"He was just trying to teach me something," Kate explained.

"Trying," Sawyer snorted, sitting up, "sounded like Jimmy Hendrix took over a Beethoven concert."

"You two, uh, want to get something to eat?" Jack asked, recovering himself.

"Sure," Kate shrugged, and looked at Sawyer as if saying 'don't you dare decline'.

Though at the same time, she was hoping he did.

"Actually, I think I'm just going to go back to sleep."

Jack eyed him, curiously.

"Don't worry, I won't wreck the place, and I promise, no girls," Sawyer said sarcastically.

"All right," Jack agreed, "we'll be back in a few hours."

"Whatever," Sawyer muttered, feeling himself fall back to sleep already.

(Space)

A mass of yellow stared at Kate, drowned in sprinkles of brown and light red, set beside pancakes with syrup and butter on top. She couldn't believe how nice Jack was being to her, never even mentioning anything in return, and now, Kate could do nothing but spin her food in her fork. Getting sick last night from the Chinese noodles she had eaten last night had been kept secret from Jack. Truth was, the sudden change from eating nothing but fruit and fish, or the occasional boar, every day for three months had been unusually hard on Kate, and she found it hard to even digest the stale food she was served twice a day at the prison. But all through this, Jack hadn't said a word. Normally he would've demanded that she'd eat, even the smallest amounts, but Jack just sat there, staring helplessly into her food, as she was doing. And it drove her crazy. Jack was supposed to be the worrywart, not her.

"Are you ever going to say anything?" Kate said finally.

Jack looked up at her in surprise. Up close, though it could've just been her eyes playing tricks on her(or being over-worried about Jack) she could still see the many faded signs of island battle, and couldn't help but to wonder how he was dealing with all of that at work.

"What?" He asked innocently, and took a bite of sausage.

"Jack look-"

"Just don't," Jack said, looking into her eyes and then shaking her head, "don't say anything."

"You can't just sit there and ignore me!" Kate cried.

"What am I supposed to say?" Jack exclaimed. "I owe over four million dollars to three different people. I worry about you for two weeks, and then you run away to _him_."

"It wasn't running away to him!" Kate protested.

"Then what was it?" Jack said. "Because you sure did seem to know what you were doing. If some idiot hadn't of gone and burnt his house down, you'd probably be standing at the alter with him right now!"

"What?" Kate said, looking at him, stunned. "What the hell gives you that idea?"

"Well I don't know Kate," Jack said drastically, "you were differently willing to spend the night at his place. And he's Sawyer. I'm not blind, and don't act like nothing would've happened."

"If you haven't forgotten," Kate said coldly, "I also just spent the night at your place, and I have perfect control over myself."

"Would you two like some more coffee?" A waitress asked them, at the wrong moment.

"No!" Jack and Kate said, a little too forcefully, at the same time.

An old couple by a window glanced their way, and turned back to each other, mumbling.

"We mean, we're fine," Jack said, more calmly.

"If you say so," the waitress said, tearing off a slip of paper from a small book, "here's your check. Pay up front when your ready."

"Thanks," Jack said, glancing at the check and then placing it upside down beside him.

"How much?" Kate asked, once the waitress was gone.

"What?"

"How much was the meal?" She repeated. "I'll pay my share.

"No," Jack sighed, "your fine."

They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before Jack spoke up again.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said finally, "I overreacted."

"No," Kate said, shaking her head, "I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't of ran off like that, it's just that guy at the bank-"

"Did you know him?" Jack said quickly, and then looked down. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay," Kate said quietly, "we have a- history. He just scared me a little."

She noticed Jack looking at her in concern.

"Don't worry," she added, "he didn't hurt me."

"Is there anything I could do?" Jack said. "Did he threaten you?"

"No," Kate lied, "he was just going to use me as bate, but I was too quick for him and escaped out the back door. I'm sorry, I should've tried to find you again."

"No, it's all right" Jack said truthfully.

"Anyway," Kate said after a short pause, "I just wanted to say thanks."

"For what?"

"Taking in Sawyer," she said, and then shortly after added, "and not killing him."

"Where's he going to go?" Jack snorted. "But it's no big deal. My boss doesn't want me overworked, so he's forcing me to stay at home for a few days. Worried about me or something."

"I couldn't imagine," Kate said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Just out of curiosity," Jack said, taking another bite of his breakfast, "what's his place like?"

"Who, Sawyer?" Kate said, confused for a moment.

"Well, his parent's place."

Kate grinned mischievously.

"Did you know he listens to jazz records?"

(Space)

By the time they arrived back at Jack's apartment, the two were on good terms again, and were laughing quietly as they were earlier as they reached his door.

"Seems quiet," Jack noted.

"Maybe he's discovered cds," Kate shrugged, "he insulted your taste in music, by the way."

"What's wrong with my taste in music?" Jack said, in a mock hurt tone, taking out his key when he found the door locked, which he supposed was a good thing.

Kate just shrugged. Finally, Jack's door was open, but Jack didn't move a muscle.

"Jack?" Kate asked, looking up at him. "What's wrong?"

When he didn't answer, Kate pushed him aside a little to see for herself, and gasped as she did. Jack's place was a wreck. The furniture was turned over along with shelves and tables. Remains of the plastic plates they had used for dinner lay astray on the floor, and the tv that had once sat on a small stand was busted in. The box of Jack's 'junk' his mother had thrown in was no longer a box, and the contents were everywhere; glass was stuck to the carpet in bits and pieces. In all, Kate figured it a tornado were to ever touch down in a big city, this is what it would look like. Whoever did it even went through the trouble of graffiting the walls with white spray paint, tanning the badge wallpaper. The only thing that wasn't there was gang signs.

Before she could say anything, Jack stormed into the place, and picked up a pillow that was, well, one could say that someone wouldn't be sleeping on _that_ for a while. In anger and rage, Jack threw the once cushioned fabric down with a curse.

"Jack," Kate said, frantic, "you need to calm down.

"Calm down?" Jack repeated, all but calm, waving his arms madly. "How do you expect me to remain calm-"

Kate grabbed his arms in a tight grip, and looked up at him, meeting his eyes, expressing her words through them. _Just please listen to me-_ they said.

"All right," Jack finally agreed, sighing, "all right, all right."

Running his hand over his head, Jack looked around once more at his wrecked apartment, and was about to say something else to Kate, when he noticed something was missing.

"Where's Sawyer?" He asked, feeling his rage come back.

"What?" Kate asked, looking around and realizing that Sawyer was, in fact, no where to be found.

"I swear to God," Jack said through gritted teeth, pounding his fist against the wall, "if he went back south-"

"I don't think he's back down south," Kate said, sounding like she was about to be sick.

Jack glanced over from where Kate stood behind the overturned couch.

"Why's that?"

"He's right here," Kate said, obviously trying to keep her cool.

"Is he breathing?" Jack asked, in his normal 'doctor Jack' tone.

"Yeah."

"Good."

"What? Why?" Kate said, finding herself nervous at Jack tone when he said 'good'.

"Because now I can kill him," Jack said, balling up his fist once more.

Kate was now bent down, checking Sawyer for injuries. She sighed in relief when she saw that the only sign of harm was a little bit of blood trickling from Sawyer's mouth.

"Why would Jack want to wreck your apartment?" Kate said, praying that she could pull Jack's sense back.

"I don't know, probably for the same reason I'd want to burn his house down," Jack retorted sarcastically.

At that moment, a rough cough filled the room. Sawyer was awake. His eyes snapped open, and they darted around uncontrollably.

"Take it easy," Kate said, as she helped him sit up against the couch, "Jack, go get me some ice."

As she did, she noticed Sawyer was rubbing that back of his head in obvious pain. She then looked back at Jack, who was just standing there, glaring at Sawyer.

"Jack!" She said urgently, and he grunted as he went off to fulfill her duty.

"What happened?" Sawyer groaned, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"I was hoping that you could tell me that," Kate said quietly as Jack sat beside her, giving Sawyer the ice.

"I was knocked out," Sawyer said, trying to remember.

"Did you see anybody?" Jack said, feeling guilty now that he saw that the vandalism couldn't of been Sawyer's fought.

"Heard some crashing," Sawyer mumbled, "and then nothing."

"We should get him to the hospital," Kate said, biting her lip and looking up at Jack.

"He'll be fine," Jack said in truth, not just trying to get rid of dealing with Sawyer, "but once someone finds out about this- the landlord in particular- it's going to be my skin that pays. More like my money. I think I'm going to go file a report."

"Report?" Kate asked, unsure that that was the best idea. "Maybe someone's just trying to scare you-" she glanced at Sawyer, "both of you."

"More the reason to file a report," Jack said.

"Look, I'm fine," Sawyer said below him, "just- help me up."

Kate glanced at Jack, wondering if that was a good idea. He nodded, and together they both pulled Sawyer up. He wobbled a bit and then caught his balance.

"I'm good," he said, waving Kate's hand away.

Kate finally let go, and turned back to Jack.

"Why don't you stay here and keep an eye on him," Jack said, "and I'll go try and get some service at the station."

"I have a better idea," Kate said, "how about he goes with you and I'll stay here and clean up-" her eyes twinkled, "and keep an eye out for evil landlords."

"Why should he go?" Jack said, not liking the idea, and Sawyer echoed him with a 'Yeah'.

"Do you really think there could be no coincidence between the fire and this," Kate said.

"Fine," Jack sighed, "come on."

He turned to go out the door, and Sawyer did the same, but stopping, and whispering into Kate's ear, "You owe me."

Kate just smiled.

Author's Note: Hehe. I love writing this. It might go a little fast, but I couldn't lay it out any other way. Thanks so much for all the reviews and support!

Crookedview- yes, that's what I love about writing this. I get to be all casual about it. No monsters or evil Canadian robots- though something of the sort is in here. The most you'll see them do in here is eat. They're really daring in the next few chapters- pizza takeout!

Lillywriter- don't worry. Plenty of Jate goods to come. In particular, one little scene concerning Jack, Kate, and a closet.

Coming up Next, in "Famous Last Words":

A certain doctor's ex-girlfriend turns up with a surprise(and no, crazyhorsegirl- NOT a bunny! Lol!) that changes everything. And to top it all off, Jack gets a phone call that's just the icing on the cake.

Thanks again for all the reviews!

October Sky


	6. Chapter Six

Famous Last Words

Chapter Six

Author's Note: I gave Sawyer a real name before "Outlaws" aired, and as a joke, I named him Jude after the Beatle's song "Hey Jude". So for sake of confusion, I'll make his middle name James, therefor comes the nickname J.J.

Disclaimer: "Angel" was written and performed by Sarah McLachlan. I do not own it.

Nearly five hours later Jack and Sawyer were walking back down the hall to Jack's apartment. Both had avoid saying anything to the other, though Jack couldn't hold back from snickering when Sawyer was forced to come forward with his real name at the police station. Some how, Sawyer being named after Beatle's songs and bibliogical characters just didn't fit, but Jack kept that opinion to himself, though he jokingly asked him in the car if he ever went by the nick name J.J. He was sure that comment would've received a punch if Sawyer had regained his full strength back, but luckily, he hadn't.

As they neared the door, Sawyer stopped suddenly, and Jack was about to ask 'what now?' when a soft voiced answered from him. Singing. Coming from his apartment, along with a piano accompanate. From the vandalism, Jack knew all of his cds had either been stolen or destroyed, so there was only one other solution..

"I thought she sucked at piano," Sawyer commented.

"Did she ever tell you she could sing?" Jack asked, and Sawyer just shrugged.

It wasn't until they neared the door that they could make out the lyrics, which neither of them recognized, thought it was really "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan.

Jack knocked on the door and the music stopped shortly on the next chord, making Sawyer smirked as they heard the sound of someone scurrying to put something away. When Jack finally opened the door, they found Kate pretending to sleep on the couch. She 'stirred awake' at the sound of them entering.

"Sorry," she said, jumping up, "must've fallen asleep."

"You know," Jack chimed, "of all those years watching the _Brady Bunch_, I don't remember Alice ever falling asleep on the job.."

Kate flushed while Sawyer went right to the topic of his interest.

"So who taught you how to play?" He said with a sly smile.

"What?" Kate asked innocently. "Oh. That. Around."

"Bar hopping?" Sawyer smirked.

"Funny," Kate said with a sarcastic smile, "anyway, I think I got the place pretty good. The walls were hell though."

"They were all ready hell," Jack said, "the paint was just a decoration."

"How do you supposed someone managed to drag all of that stuff to wreck the place with and do all of this without anyone noticing?" Sawyer said, picking up a dirty sock that Kate grabbed out of his hands.

"Through the window," Jack said, standing at what used to be the balcony door, looking down at the city below before turning to Kate, "I don't guess you noticed any signs of suspects?"

"No," Kate said helplessly, before her eyes lit up, "oh, but you did get a call."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"From who?"

Kate shrugged.

"Someone named Sarah," Kate said, causing Jack's expression to become grave, "she wanted to stop by. I told her you were out, but I didn't think you would mind if she came-"

Jack groaned in the middle of it, collapsing onto the couch(now turned right side up, though there was some tares in it.

"Later," Kate finished, "that wasn't a good thing to say, was it?"

"To make a long story short, no," Jack said, and leaned back against the cushions, staring up at the ceiling.

What could Sarah want? It had been nearly a year since she had left him, since she had permanently damaged his ego, and every last bit of the romantic that was left in him. On perfect timing, there was a knock on the door.

"That the lucky lady now?" Sawyer said, enjoying the moment.

But Kate, who had no clue what was going on, eyed him, as Jack got up with a sigh, forcing himself to walk towards the door, every step lasting a eternity. Finally the door was opened, and he found himself facing Sarah, a year older with the same long, blonde hair, though the lump in her stomach was now flat, and the baby that was once growing inside was now resting in her arms.

"Hey," she said softly.

But Jack could only stand there staring, and he realized that he was almost afraid to find out why his ex-wife was there.

"Hey Sarah," he heard himself greet in return, and then blurted out, "look, if you're looking for money-"

"I'm not," Sarah said confidently, "I'm fine. I actually came to see how you were. I heard about the crash and everything on the news, and your father- I'm so sorry, Jack. He was a good man."

"Yeah," Jack nodded, momentarily drawn from his worries, "he was."

"I was just wondering if we could catch up," Sarah said, obviously having to work up the nerve to do so.

That was when they both heard soft giggling from inside, and Jack had to mentally remind himself to kill Sawyer later.

"But I see you have company," Sarah said quickly, embarrassed.

"No, it's fine," Jack said, closing the door behind him, "we can just- talk out here."

He leaned back against the door casually, trying to give himself sometime to pull himself together.

"So.." he stuttered, trying to find somewhere to began, "he looks healthy. The baby, I mean."

"She," Sarah said, smiling proudly, "and thanks."

"Anything in particular you wanted to talk about?" Jack asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Just your normal, every day conversation," Sarah said, clearly nervous.

They grew quiet as each tried to think of something to say.

"So who's the father?"

Jack could've kicked himself. Not only was that none of his business, but just the fact that the question was bothering him irked him.

"Actually," Sarah said, biting her lip, "you are."

Jack froze. He had heard wrong, surely.

"What?" He asked, looking at Sarah, puzzled. "I'm sorry, I though you just told me that I was a father."

"You are," Sarah said, and sighed, "look Jack, I lied about having an affair, and truthfully, since we were married, I haven't been with anyone else. I swear."

"I don't understand," Jack said, shaking his head, trying to make sense of it, "I was scared Jack. Afraid."

"What did you have to be afraid of?"

This didn't make any sense at all to Jack, and he was once again getting the feeling of being back in high school, and being turned down by another date.

"Jack," Sarah said slowly, and Jack got the feeling that if she wasn't holding the baby that this would've been the point in the conversation where she would've reached out for Jack's hand. "We both know that you aren't the most stable person."

"Stable person?" Jack repeated, unable to believe in what he was hearing. "I just spent three months on a God damn island, and I had to treat just about every kind of problem you could thing of with as many of a variety of people as you could think of, and I had to just go through so God damn much-"

"I'm sorry," Sarah said, cutting Jack off quickly, "I shouldn't of come."

She tried to turn around, clutching the baby in her arms, but didn't get far before Jack grabbed her arm, stopping her.

"No," Jack said, a little more calmly, "I want to know."

"I talked to some of your friends-"

"My friends don't know anything," Jack said, sighing drastically.

"No, I think they do," Sarah said thickly, "I just wanted what was best- for the baby."

"What's best for the baby?" Jack said, beginning to shake a little. "I have a steady job, I was going to be able to finance-"

"That's not what I meant," Sarah said, and then held the baby in one hand while stroking Jack's arm with the other.

Jack pulled away.

"You think I'm crazy?" Jack said in disbelief.

"No," Sarah said quietly, "I just think that you need some help."

"I don't believe this," Jack said, and reached for the doorknob.

"Jack, stop!" Sarah said, making him turn around and stare at her, as if just daring her to go on. "I'm sorry, I know those three months must've been hard-"

"You have no idea," Jack muttered, looking down.

"But what if you hadn't been rescued?" Sarah said. "What would've happened then? I worried about you so much. There was coverage all over the news- everywhere you went. Signs. Billboards. Pleas for family members to come home. It was..horrible."

The impact of that statement hit Jack like bricks as he realized he had never thought of how the rest of the world was dealing with the crash and its aftermath. And now he felt even worse, in guilt and selfishness. What of those families now? With the news of rescue, everyone must've been overjoyed, but what happened with the families of the dead?

"It would of never worked out between us," Sarah continued, "and I think both of us know that."

"I still don't-" Jack shook his head, "look, why don't you come in? I'll try and get them to get out for a while, and we can talk this through."

Sarah hesitated, and then agreed. Jack opened the door, and let her in. Sawyer opened his mouth to say something, probably sarcastic, but Kate nudged him just in time, stopping him.

"Um.." Sarah stated nervously, "hi."

"Oh, right," Jack said, "um..this is Sarah."

"Hi," Kate said, smiling kindly, "you have a beautiful girl there."

"Thanks," Sarah said, returning the smile.

"Mind if I hold her?" Kate asked, seeming completely obvious to the amount of angst in the room.

"No!" Sarah said. "Go right ahead. I could use a break."

Carefully, she allowed Kate to take the baby in her arms, and even Sawyer had to admit that she was adorable. Though to him, both Kate and the baby.

"If you don't mind me asking," Kate said, stroking the baby's soft hair, "who's the father?"

Sarah glanced nervously at Jack, wondering what to say, Jack cleared his throat, and answered for her.

"Apparently," Jack said, leaning back in the couch, sighing, "she's mine."

Sawyer choked on his breath in a snort, and Kate just looked shock.

"We..uh..used to be married," Sarah said, suddenly feeling very awkward.

She didn't even know if Jack had wanted the two to know that.

"And you're divorced?" Sawyer said slowly, though obviously getting a kick out of the situation.

"For awhile," Sarah nodded.

An odd silence drew over the room, until Kate finally decided to speak up.

"What's her name?"

"Kate," Sarah answered in a more pleasant tone than before, "Katelyn actually."

"How ironic," Sawyer snorted.

Sarah just looked at him, puzzled.

"That's my name," Kate explained, and Sarah let out a little 'oh'.

Of course, it was only a fake name, but still.

"Oh- God," Sarah said suddenly, "I didn't know what time it was. I was going to go eat at my mother's."

She turned to Jack.

"And you know how she is about being on time."

Her comment caused Jack to smile a little in memory.

"Yeah," he said, "here, let me walk you out."

Kate gave little Kate back to Sarah, still smiling as sweetly as she could, and Sarah followed Jack out the door.

"Listen," he said before she could go, "I don't care what happened in the past. If you ever need any help- if you need anything at all, give me a call, okay?"

"Don't worry," Sarah said, smiling, "when this kid gets to school, you'll be the first name on the emergency list."

Jack smiled back, and then said, "If she's really mine-"

"She is, I swear," Sarah cut in.

"Then I still want to be apart of her life," Jack continued, "rather we're together or not."

Sarah nodded.

"I appreciate it," Sarah said, "really."

Leaning forward, she couldn't help but to give Jack a little peck on the cheek, causing Jack to blush, knowing Kate and Sawyer's eyes were boring on him.

"Thanks."

With that, she turned, and began to sweet talk baby Kate as she sat her into a stroller that Jack didn't notice was there, and just as soon as she had arrived, Sarah disappeared down the hallway.

Famous Last Words

Chapter Seven

Sighing deeply, Jack leaned against the door, closing his eyes. The last time he remembered life changing so quickly before his eyes was the day of the crash, though then again, he guessed that you could also count the day of the rescue. He tried to take in all the information given to him, but knew that it would take him days and sleepless nights to get used to it, if he was able to at all. It had really hit him hard, what Sarah had said, her reason for leaving him. Because he needed help. He had never felt so selfish in his life. Now that baby was going to grow up without a daddy, or worse, Sarah would remarry, to a man who would be half the father that Jack knew he could be. Not if he could help it.

The room filled with deadly silence that none of the three seemed to be able to handle. Sawyer stared at a scar on his finger from the long ago torture section with Sayid, while Kate watched him, and Jack watched the two of them. The scene didn't help his guilt at all.

"I'm going to, uh-" just as Jack was about to make an excuse to leave, the phone rang, and Kate, nearest, answered it.

"Hello?" She asked simply, unsure how Jack normally answered his phone.

She then glanced at Jack and handed him the phone.

"It's for you," she said quietly as Jack walked over, "it's your boss."

"Hello?" Jack said as he took the phone, cupping it in his hands. "Yes. I'm fine. No- don't worry about me."

Kate raised an eyebrow.

"Um..yeah, sure," Jack said next, and then stopped cold, his throat closing up, "um..yeah..I understand..no, really. I enjoyed working with you too."

Kate and Sawyer glanced at each other, both listening hard for the voice on the other end. Furiously, Jack hung up the phone, and threw it against the wall. The phone struck the spray-painted sheets of brick with a crack, and broke into pieces on the floor as Jack gave out a curse of frustration, and fell onto the couch, holding his head in his hands. Not knowing what to say, Kate waited a moment to try and give Jack a chance to calm down, though she knew that that probably wouldn't be for awhile.

"What's wrong?" She asked finally.

Jack sighed, rubbing his hands over his face and eyes, which looked moist.

"I just lost my job."

Author's Note: I have an explanation! Don't kill me yet! Actually, you probably hate me anyway. But I'm planning a happy ending, truthfully! I'm not sure what I want in that chapter yet. Too many ideas! Anyway, yes, I know, I'm evil to poor Jack. Oh, and btw, because of stupid new rule concerning songfic, I've moved all my songfic chapters to my exanga page. The link can be found in my bio. Thanks for all the reviews!

FanOfLost- aw..hugs I heart you too! In fact, I heart all of my reviewers! You guys are the best!

Shanters- I'll give you a hint, the culprit has nothing to do with neither Jack nor Sawyer, and he strikes again. Soon.

Coming up next in(or in the near future) "Famous Last Words":

An old friend visits, and brings some news down on Jack of something that happened in the past that Jack didn't know about, which sends him in a frenzy(funny word there) to his mother's. And if there's room, Jack and Kate have a conversation about Jack's life, and Kate tries desperately to help him, as Sawyer picks back up on some old habits, which may cost one of their lives, but not in the way that you think.

Hm..that last sentence reminds me of one of the old death spoilers. Locke's envolved but not in the way that you think. But that has nothing to do with what's going to happen next..I think..(insert evil grin here).

For the news for Jack, I've mentioned it before, in a past fanfic where I talked about this story. You've seen it. Thanks again for the reviews!

October Sky


	7. Chapter Seven

Famous Last Words

Chapter Eight

Crazyhorsegirl: OMG! I bet you reviewed before I added in the new ending! Right after I updated, I added more onto the ending. If what you read didn't end with Jack getting a phone call, turn back and reread that ending now! Lol! I'm sooo sorry about that!

"What?" Sawyer and Kate both said at the same time.

"How-" Kate began, but couldn't say anything as she failed to recover from her shock, so Sawyer took over.

"Aren't you supposed to be the best or something?" He pointed out slurred, as if drunk.

"I was," Jack corrected, sighing again as he stood up, "but my father's gone now."

"I don't get it," Kate said, "what does that have to do with-"

"He's not there as an influence to them anymore," Jack explained. "he's not there to scare them. Now they're short one chief of surgeon and apparently, I'm just not ready for that."

"Oh Jack," Kate said, as if talking to a child who was apologizing for being bad, "I'm sorry."

She stood up, probably to offer a hug, some sort of moral support, a shoulder to cry on, but Jack only pushed her away.

"No, I'm fine," he insisted, "I'm just going to-uh-"

Jack's lies were saved by yet another knock on the door.

"Want me to get that?" Sawyer offered.

"No," Jack said.

Kate watched after him as Jack went to the door, and opened it to the last person he expected to see.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jack asked, closing his jaw when he left it hanging open too long.

"What? Can't a guy come see his best friend after he spends three months on some deserted island?"

In front of him, Mark, Jack's best friend, and only friend, since high school stood.

"Hell yeah," Jack said, "come in."

They embraced in a brotherly hug and then quickly let go.

"Oh, yeah," Jack said, remembering the other two in the room, who sat, confused, "this is Kate, Allison, whatever you want to call her-"

He knew it was odd to have such a huge mood swing at a time where one shouldn't of been, but then again, how many friends did he have? And anyway, he still owed the guy a huge dept.

"Just call me Kate," Kate said, smiling as she took Mark's hand.

"Nice to meet you," Mark said pleasantly.

"And this is..um.." Jack had to stop, realizing he wasn't exactly sure how to introduce Sawyer to anyone- anyone human, at least.

"James," Sawyer said, eyeing Jack.

"We..uh..met on the island," Jack explained.

"Oh..that's cool," suddenly Mark's excitement drew out, as if he was remembering the reason he was here, and Jack knew that things weren't as good as it seems.

"So what's up?" Jack said, trying to stay as far away from upcoming bad news as he could.

"Actually, I need to talk to you," Mark said, and glanced at Kate and Sawyer.

Jack got the picture.

"Yeah, sure," he said, "come on."

He led Mark into the kitchen, an area Kate had only picked up a little bit on.

"What happened here?" Mark asked, eyeing a few cabinets that had been smashed in.

"Somebody broke in," Jack said, leaning against the cabinet under the microwave.

"Anybody hurt?" Mark said, concerned.

"Just that guy you met in there," Jack said, "but he's used to it."

"Huh?"

Jack shook his head.

"Never mind," he said, "what did you want?"

"Just to catch up," Mark said casually, though Jack knew there was more to the story, "so pretty wild, huh? Never really thought that deserted island mumbo jumbo would come in handy, huh?"

"It was some island," Jack admitted, "you wouldn't believe the stuff that went on there."

"Try me."

"Do you believe in mind control?" Jack challenge.

"Never mind," Mark said, "something tells me that I don't want to know."

Jack laughed a little, and then grew serious.

"So why are you really here?"

Mark just stared at him, as if thinking that Jack should've known.

"You never heard?" Mark asked, confused.

"Heard what?"

"Jack," Mark said, somewhat sympathetically, "your mom took the news of the crash hard. She thought you were dead- we all did."

"So I've heard," Jack said bitterly, under his breath.

"But some of us tried to get over it, and for others-" Mark trailed off.

"What are you getting at?"

"Jack," Mark said slowly, "your mom tried to commit suicide."

Jack just stared at him.

"What?" He said, sure that by now, he was imagining things.

He didn't hear it. His mom did not try and kill herself over him.

"I'm sorry, Jack," Mark said in a hurry, "it just became to much. And who could blame her?"

"Who could blame her?" Jack repeated, his anger building up again.

"I didn't mean that," Mark said, drawing in a deep breath.

Jack ignored him, storming out of the room, jerking away the hand that grabbed at his arm to stop him.

"Jack!" Mark called after him as he ran through the apartment.

Jack didn't say anything as he threw open the door, exiting the apartment in a fury. Mark turned to Jack's friends- or who he assumed was Jack's friends- feeling as though he should say something, but couldn't think of a way to explain it. Would Jack even want them to know?

"It was nice to meet you," he said finally, and Kate nodded, puzzled, as he went after Jack.

(Space)

Banging on the door of his mother's house reminded Jack of the last time he was there, and the reason. Funny. He couldn't remember the one time he had visited that hadn't ended with a tragedy. He pounded some more, sniffing as he felt his noise itch, though he knew he couldn't blame his moist eyes on the pollen. Two more knocks and the door finally open.

His mother was barely recognizable. Streaks lined her face, short of makeup, and what little she had ran with the tears. Her eyes were blood red, and swollen, and all she did was stare back at Jack, until finally the sound of a car going by interrupted the silence, and Mrs. Shepard let her son in. But neither could say anything for the lack of words, and neither did a thing until Jack's mother finally let go in full tears, pulling her son into a hug, as Jack felt his moisten eyes watered worse than before- and definitely not from allergies.

Author's Note: Sorry, I had to make that short, because I have this huge test in the morning, and if I don't pass it, I don't get the credit for the class. So I need sleep. Next chapter should be out tomorrow too! Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are the best!

Next up, on "Famous Last Words":

Jack and Kate have a heart to heart, and you know how their last heart to heart went(wink, wink), only Kate takes it up a notch this time. Trust Sawyer to ruin everything though.

Thanks again for the reviews!

October Sky


	8. Chapter Eight

Famous Last Words

Chapter Eight

The door slammed as Jack entered the apartment hours later. Sawyer and Kate, who had been sitting on the couch, talking, sat up quickly as Jack brisked through. Kate got up just as Jack reached her.

"We saved you some pizza," she offered, just as Jack barely missed crushing the pizza box that lay on the floor.

Eyes rimmed red from tears, Jack ignored her, and stormed off to the balcony, slamming the door(not even bothering to ask when it had been replace) and leaned against the railing, staring down to the streets below as the sun set around him.

"You gonna go after him?" Sawyer said from behind Kate.

"No," Kate said, after staring at Jack for a moment too long, "I'll give him some time."

But late that night, nearing into the midnight hours, Jack stilled stood outside, frozen in space with his arms wrapped around the balcony's black railing, oblivious to any sound around him, including the sliding glass as Kate stepped out onto the concrete. Careful not to startle Jack, she walked up quietly behind him, and leaned forward against the rail, folding her arms on it as she looked down to the scene Jack was watching of a gang of teenagers getting into a heated argument.

"You know, if they knew you were watching, they'd probably shoot you," she pointed out.

"I know," Jack stated quietly, not making any movement as he just continued to watch the scene, as if really concentrating on it.

"Why don't you come back inside?" Kate said gently, and let out a shiver. "It's freezing out here."

"I'm fine," Jack lied in the same tone.

He was actually freezing, and starving too. Jack was now beginning to wish that he had taken up Kate's offer on the pizza now- he was so hungry, he could taste it melting in his mouth- but he wasn't going to let down his walls now.

"You've been out here since five o'clock," Kate said, feeling herself getting frustrated with Jack's constant pushing away, "what's going on?"

Jack sighed, knowing he was caught with no way out, and finally explained himself.

"My mom tried to kill herself."

Kate looked at him as if she didn't understand.

"Attempted suicide," Jack went on, getting impatient.

"What?" Kate said. "You mean, just now?"

"No," Jack said, "during- after- the crash."

"Oh," Kate said softly, "I'm..I'm sorry."

How were you supposed to reply to a statement like that? She began to wonder if maybe the universe really did have a dead eye on Jack. It was worse than Sawyer and the boar. One thing after another, and always in a short amount of time. One could really look up to someone who could deal with that, but the way they dealt with it was always a separate story on its own. No wonder Jack's friends always appeared to be so worried about him.

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault," Kate said, and bit her lip as she waited for the scream momentarily destined for her.

"Not my fault?" Jack stated, looking at her for the first time.

Her eyes widened as his bore into her sole, shadowing every speck of good feeling left. The redness around them haunted her, and she knew the truth. It was Jack being haunted- haunted by a demon that told him he was doing the right thing, and led him to live like this. A demon that had haunted him more than once.

"How could it not be my fault?" Jack exclaimed. "If only I had of disappointed her-"

"Disappointed her?" Kate said in disbelief. "How can you say that?"

"By turning my father in-"

"What?" Kate looked at him as though they had just met for the first time.

And maybe they had. But more importantly, Jack was trapped. He had cowered himself into a corner, and now there was no way out.

"My father was the chief of surgeon at the hospital I worked at," Jack began with a sough, "and a drunk. But we normally worked around it, and got along pretty well. He was a big help when Sarah left me- gave me a place to stay- he even paid my way through med. school."

"Sounds like a great guy," Kate commented, hoping that coming from her, it would have some impact.

If it did, she could never clearly tell.

"He was," Jack agreed, but then ended up with another sigh, "up until about a year ago."

"What happened?"

"My mom left him," Jack said, "it was hard on him, of course, but I'm not sure if he realized how hard it was on others too."

Studying, Kate found herself wondering if Jack was only talking about his mom, or if really, deep down, he was hinting himself too.

"They still talked though," Jack said, "still saw each other every now and then. It wasn't that bad, considering. Neither one of them ever told me exactly why she left him, but I think it had something to do with his drinking habits, and overworking himself."

"Sounds familiar," Kate teased with a smile that immediately faded away.

"Anyway," Jack sighed, "one day he came into the O.R.-"

"O.R.?" Kate repeated, confused.

"Operating room," Jack explained, and Kate let out an exaggerated 'oh', "he came into the operating room drunk. One of the nurses warned me, and I interrupted the procedure, and took over."

"Well you did the right thing, didn't you?" Kate asked, not getting the point of the story.

"The woman died," Jack said quietly, almost inaudible, "she died and my father wouldn't turn himself in- so I did."

"Oh," Kate said, now in an equal tone to Jack, "oh- oh my God..I had no idea.."

"Don't be sorry," Jack said, looking at her again.

But this time, his eyes were calm and serene, almost easing her feeling of guilt that Kate didn't understand.

"Jack, we all loose the people that we love," Kate said softly as Jack turned away.

"I know," he mumbled.

She was getting the feeling that Jack wasn't really listen to her(though little did she know, he was), and took his arm, turning him towards her. Jack didn't protest.

"But we have to move on," she continued quietly so that he couldn't hear her voice breaking, "and we have to learn to be grateful for what we still have."

"What do I have that I could possibly be grateful for?" Jack muttered dully.

This time, Kate smiled.

"Me."

Leaning forward, she grabbed Jack in a kiss that lasted a few moments before they broke away as the sounds of footsteps pattered away underneath them.

"What?" Kate asked mischievously. "I'm no Locke, but I can think of wise things to say too."

"It's not that?" Jack said.

"What?" Kate asked in her usual teasing tone as she tried to kiss him again.

Jack put a hand up to stop her, leaving her to stare in wonder into her eyes.

"Not out here," he said slyly, and Kate smiled, taking his hand in hers, and pulling her through the apartment, where she opened the nearest door, and threw them inside.

It didn't take seconds before her lips were brushing against his. Once. Twice. A third. Then Jack stopped.

"What now?" Kate asked, pretending to pout.

"You know this is a closet, right?" Jack asked, giving a simper at her mistakes.

"Yeah," Kate lied, "I knew that."

"So no holding back then?" Jack said, keeping his grin.

"No holding back," Kate said, barely giving Jack time to breathe before embracing him in another kiss, penning him against the door.

Yet once again, Jack seemed to be holding himself back.

"What happened to no holding back?" Kate joked.

"Nothing," Jack said, "it's just I've never done something so-"

"Exciting?" Kate answered him.

"Well-"

She didn't give him time to reply before leaning up(Kate hated that Jack was just that inch taller than she was).

"Spontaneous?" She muttered next, and once again surprising Jack with another kiss before he could get more than a word out.

But after that, Kate pulled back, her eyes glistening as she smiled, making Jack a little nervous, and making him realize that he had the bottom hand in this.

"Romantic?" She tested, and this time, Jack smiled his own wicked grin back.

"Now I don't know if I'd call it that-"

The next thing Jack knew, Kate was coming on to him faster than he expected; then she 'accidentally' missed lips and instead giving him a small peck on the small of his neck.

"Hey!" Jack called in surprise, his hand flying up to his neck.

"That's what you get," Kate said playfully, pushing herself against him, "I go through a lot of trouble to get you."

"Really?" Jack said in mock surprised, "tell me."

He made it a situation where it was obvious Kate wasn't going to get a thing until she started talking.

"Well I don't know Jack," Kate said, "if I woman has to wait this long for someone to make a move-"

"Excuse me?" Jack said, raising an eyebrow. "If I recall correctly- I was the one who made a first move. I was just waiting for you to make a second."

"Well are you happy now?" Kate, arms crossed, daring him in a teasing way to say otherwise.

"Very," Jack said truthfully, fulfilling her wish.

They embraced each other once more, their lips grazing the surface of the other, and Kate found herself examining every detail about Jack. The way he smelled, the minty taste that came from his mouth(though obviously due from gun, not toothpaste- she'd have to remind herself to ask about that later), and every lines of worry that slowly erased themselves.

"Wait," Jack said, drawing away from a final kiss, "isn't Sawyer out there?"

Kate frowned for a minute before breaking out into another smile.

"He's gone."

"Gone?"

"He went out for a smoke," Kate said, "about an hour a go."

"He's going out of his way for a smoke?" Jack asked, curious.

"I guess since someone complained to your landlord about the smell-"

"What?" Jack exclaimed.

"Oh, don't worry," Kate said in a tone that told Jack he should do anything but, "we handled it."

"How?" Jack asked, bracing himself for some practical scheme that he would surely have to take the blame for.

"We're criminals," Kate shrugged, "we handled it our own way."

"Kate," Jack said slowly, drawing it out, "what did you do to my landlord?"

"He's tied up out behind the dumpster," Kate said and smiled at Jack's look of horror, "I'm only joking! God, you don't think we're that bad, do you?"

"You? No," Jack said, "Sawyer- let me think about that."

"Let's say you did and then really don't," Kate said smoothly, pulling Jack towards her again.

And there they remained, pitting against the door in the dark, the conversation they had had just moment ago lost in the LA moonlight.

(Space)

Some hours later Kate stirred awake and found herself laying against a solid hard wall, and for a split second, she thought she was back on the island, maybe in the caves. Then her thoughts switch to the possibility of being back in jail. Then she remembered the night's events. And Jack. Jack..words couldn't describe the emotion she felt when he kissed her- satisfaction, excitement, relief, joy and..love. She thought on that one.

Did she love Jack? Her answered came when she took the time to look the closet she was enclosed in, and found Jack sleeping in the same position that she had been in. She smiled. Then, as much as she loved Jack, and as much as she loved seeing him sleeping(and knowing that he was actually getting some sleep) she knew that the morning wouldn't agree with either of them if they remained as they were, and personally, she preferred a more comfortable bed- Jack's, for example.

"Jack," she whispered, part of her praying that Sawyer wasn't back yet.

Jack didn't make a single move. The only sound that responded was a car horn outside and the short breaths coming from the sleeping form of Jack.

"Jack," she said again.

Still no response. Impatient, she kicked on the leg of Jack's pants(she had kept it to herself, but she hadn't been too pushy on Jack, in fear that Sawyer would walk in on them any moment. Neither of them would ever hear the end of it, and poor Sawyer would be scarred for life. Jack immediately jerked awake.

"What?" Jack asked in a hurry. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kate said, "we fell asleep."

"Oh," Jack said, sighing in relief and running his hand over his head, and then stopped, looking around, "why are we in a closet?"

"In all truth," Kate said, "we probably wouldn't be on the floor, on separate sides of the closet, if you were actually human and slept every now and then."

Jack just shrugged.

"I didn't see you complaining earlier."

Just then, a door slammed, and both Jack and Kate jumped.

"Sawyer's back," Kate said, confirming their worst fear.

"Great," Jack muttered, "what now?"

"As if I have all the answers?" Kate said with a grunt.

"And you haven't been in this situation before?"

"I could take that as an insult you know."

"Do you?"

"You've got to get out there," Kate said finally.

"What?" Jack said. "No- no way. We don't even know what time it is. For all we know, it's-"

"One in the morning," Kate said, and Jack eyed her, "your watch."

"Oh, right."

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Just get dressed," she said, throwing Jack's shirt that had come off at some point in time of the love process.

Jack did, and Kate practically threw herself out of the closet saying, "Distract him, I'll get myself out," while straightening her shirt.

Jack tumbled out of the closet, pretending as though he was closing the door behind him. He rubbed the back of his neck innocently.

"What were you doing in the closet?" Sawyer asked with a raised eyebrow, though he said it in a dry and hoarse voice.

"I was uh-"

Busted.

"Looking for a shirt," Jack lied quickly.

"At one in the morning?" Sawyer said before letting out a few rasp coughs.

"They called me in," Jack shrugged.

"I thought you got fired," Sawyer pointed out.

"Right.." Jack said, trying to think of another excuse, "I guess it was just on instinct. You uh- want something to drink?"

"Sure," Sawyer said, sounding as if though something for his throat was exactly what he needed.

He looked around for a moment, before realizing something was missing.

"Wait," he said, "where's Kate?"

Great.

"Kate?" Jack said, buying himself some time. "Oh, she's uh-"

"Right here," Kate said, coming out of nowhere, "I was just outside."

Sawyer nodded, obviously having not seen her enter.

"Why are you back so early anyway?" Kate said. "I thought you said that you'd be out all night.

He hadn't, but Kate was hoping that he was so out of his head right now, that he wouldn't remember. And apparently, he didn't.

"I was actually thinking about getting something to eat," Sawyer said, "when this idiot comes speeding by, and I swear to god if I hadn't of tripped over that damn crack earlier, my guts would be spilt over the road right now."

"Wait," Jack said suddenly, "the idiot, was he driving a big black ford truck, maybe 2003, four maybe?"

"Yeah, why?"

Jack's eyes widened, and he tried to make for the door before Kate grabbed his arm.

"What?" She demanded

"Nothing," Jack said simply.

"Nothing except you look like you wanna kill somebody right now," Sawyer said.

He felt like killing Sawyer as soon as he had said it.

"Fine," Jack sighed, "he was following me earlier, when I was coming back from my mom's. I figured it was nothing, so-"

"What?" Kate said. "Jack, you realized how serious this is, right?"

"I'm sorry, Kate, it was a mistake-"

"Do you have one doubt that someone isn't waiting for their perfect chance to murder either or both of you at any time?" She said, a little too loudly for one in the morning. "The fire, break in, and now this? Jack- you've got to do something."

Jack looked down at her, and in her pleading eyes, he knew she was right.

"Fine," Jack sighed, and looked at Sawyer, "you coming?"

"Yeah."

Kate gave Jack's arm a squeeze, not sure how he would react if she kissed, or even just hugged him in front of Sawyer.

"Be careful," she whispered.

"We will," Jack promised.

And in seconds, they wee both gone, leaving Kate alone in the cold, empty, apartment.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry I missed the update last night! I was exhausted and had another test this morning. Thanks for all the reviews!

Crazyhorsegirl88: Did you get you Jate love fix? I'm horrible at romance, and I like writing flirty Jate. Sorry if it seemed dull!

The bad news: this story should only have two or three more chapters.

The good news: all the castaways are coming back in the last chapter

The second good news: I have almost five future fics planned, though hardly any of them have titles, here's where I'm getting at though..

In the next future fics of Fated Part2, more of Alex's background is revealed, including a spooky realization of a 'special' gift of hers. Hint? Make sure you know what a medium is. Boone's hallucination comes back, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's the one to see it. Speaking of which, a crazed Locke spills one of Boone's many dark secrets, around the same time Michael mysteriously becomes ill.

But most importantly, all in the second and third fics, Jack and Alex go looking for a new piece of wreckage, while the beach-goers(yes, that's what I call them) panic when Claire goes into sudden labor. Then, Kate secretly cares for Jack, who comes down with an island flu. Boone and Alex form a friendship, though Boone has his own reasons for it(not romancy!) And LOTS of new OCs will come- on the island.

Sorry if I sound a little obsessed. I love my originally plots for Alex, and my background thing with Boone. (hugs Alex and Boone) I also still plan to do the Jate fic at some point as well. I'm hoping I'll have plenty to last the summer..

Finally!

Next up, on "Famous Last Words":

Leaving Kate alone in the dark, cold apartment not a good idea? How much righter(new word!) could you be! The next chapter should be action packed- car chases, fights, and the constant bickering between Jack and Sawyer that will drive Kate(who does show up!) to the breaking point- let's just say she just gets an 'ittle bit angsty. But the next chapter's not pretty, unless you like the color red, of course..

Thanks again for reviewing!

October Sky


	9. Chapter Nine

Famous Last Words

Chapter Nine

"Nice," Sawyer spat, stepping on the last stair before arriving on the flat carpet soon recognized as Jack's apartment, "I'm glad to know that all that time, you had a plan all worked out."

"Hey, it was your idea to hide in the alley," Jack pointed out.

"You were supposed to tell me what I stupid idea that was!" Sawyer hissed.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Jack said as they reached his door, "they're gone."

"Great," Sawyer sighed, "what are we going to do now?"

He hoped whatever Jack's plan was, it consisted of getting some sleep and putting it off until the morning. Sawyer was exhausted, and unlike Jack, who hid any of his faults, he wasn't afraid to show it.

"Wait for them to strike again."

Sawyer let out a sigh of relief. This would most likely mean that he would get his sleep, though Jack wouldn't. Not to mention whatever had gone on between him and Kate was clearly still on Jack's mind, as he zoned in and out constantly, even as he walked.

"You gonna open that door?" Sawyer said bitterly, not in the mood to stand in a hallway for the rest of the night.

"Right," Jack said, snapping himself out of a daze.

The knob clicked open, and Jack pushed open the door. Half expecting Kate to throw herself on top of him, Jack braced himself, but ended up facing nothing but the air.

"Planning on moving?"

Nodding again, Jack stepped in.

"Kate?" He called to the empty apartment. "We're back."

No response. Moving towards the couch where Kate had spent the previous two nights, Jack picked up the blanket that was sprawn across it, laying lone on the soft cushions. The white spray paint that still lingered over the walls and wood in the apartment shone in the moonlight, and Jack stood frozen, clutching the blanket in his fist, feeling rage build up in him until Sawyer's voice once again broke him from his thoughts of Kate.

"Jack," Sawyer said painfully from across the room.

Jack turned, the pain in his eyes matching the pain in Sawyer's voice, and Sawyer was saved from continuing when Jack noticed what the problem was. The newly replaced balcony door stood open, and the plastic chairs that once sat on the concrete were turned over. Running over, Jack practically fell over the railing's edge as he prayed he was seeing things. But he wasn't. The Ford truck that once sat below was gone, and so was Kate.

"Come on," Sawyer said from behind him, "let's go back inside, call the police."

"What?" Jack said, spinning around. "No. No way. I found Charlie- I can find Kate too."

"Actually, I thought you found Charlie hung," Sawyer said, "and that was just Ethan and his little gang of wannabes. You have no idea how it is out there- trust me, don't get into it."

"I'm not talking about doing drugs here!" Jack argued. "I'm talking about saving someone's life, and if your not coming-"

"No," Sawyer said quickly, "the last thing I need is for her to be found and go on and on about how I sat on the couch and did nothing. One condition though."

"What?"

"We use your car."

"Do you even have a car?"

Sawyer just shrugged.

"Let's go."

(Space)

The minutes ticked into hours as the second time lapse of the day drew nearer. Only the sound of distant arguments that made Jack's hairs on his neck stand up filled the nights, along with an occasional swerve of traffic. The sound of his footsteps against the concrete rang in his ears as Sawyer's echoed behind him. Finally stopping along the row of cars, he indicated that the cruiser was in, and Sawyer was about to open the door as Jack took out his keys, a small voice spoke out from the alley.

"Jack!" Kate's voice whispered from the darkness.

Both Jack and Sawyer jumped before pulling themselves together, moving towards her voice. Kate lay in the alley way, scrunched up against the wall. Jack bent down, immediately checking on her on instinct.

"I'm fine," Kate said in a rush, "they're gone."

"What?" Jack said, and had to momentarily try and remember why he was even outside in the middle of the night.

"They tried to kidnap me," Kate said, trying to clear her head, "and I got away. They drove off." She smiled a little through the haze. "But I know which way they went."

Jack looked at her.

"Do you think you can show me?"

(Space)

"Great plan you had," Sawyer muttered sarcastically, "really."

"Will you shut up?" Jack said, though Sawyer's comment had jerked him awake, keeping him from falling asleep at the wheel, which he supposed was a good thing.

"Will both of you shut up?" Kate sighed from the back seat.

It was three in the morning, Jack had gotten them lost, and Kate's back was killing her. With her outburst, both Jack and Sawyer did shut up, though the silence began to drove her crazy.

"Wait, I think I hear something," Kate said suddenly.

"Huh?" Jack said, coming out of another daze.

Kate looked back and then immediately ducked down.

"What?" Sawyer asked, sounding a step under amused.

"There's someone behind us."

Jack checked the review mirror and sure enough, a mass of black automotive was right up the SUV's tail, and the three passengers jerked as Jack excellerated out of no where.

"Watch it, will ya?" Sawyer shouted as Jack turned the corner causing Sawyer, who wasn't wearing a seat belt, to slam against the door, and bounce back.

Kate barely caught him before he fell right onto Jack.

"Thanks," he mumbled as he pulled himself up. Kate let herself slide down against the seat as Sawyer did the same, in fear that the passengers of the other car might(and probably did) have a gun.

Thirty minutes later, Sawyer was half asleep in the passenger seat beside Jack, and even Kate caught herself dozing off every few seconds. She had come to the conclusion that car chases weren't as great as movies made them.

"Hey Jack," she said, hoping she'd get an answer without finding out that Jack had fallen asleep minutes ago, "I think we lost them."

"Really?" Jack said with no emotion.

Kate had to smirk.

"Too afraid to look back?"

Jack didn't say anything, only smiled a bit as he eased his driving. They were now on one of the back roads somewhere in LA, heading near the projects, something Kate knew, but Jack didn't. But for some reason, even thought their safety was at stake, Kate couldn't bring herself to part with the calmness she felt in the car. Though it was definitely awkward, she couldn't help to smile at Jack's determination as he drove.

"Is he asleep yet?" Kate asked, glancing towards the still form of Sawyer.

"At the moment," Jack said, obviously enjoying the silence.

"Too bad he didn't sleep through the whole thing," Kate said, thinking, "we could've really gone on about it."

"Like what?" Jack said, amused. "Convence him we got in a wreck and he was in a coma for two years?"

"I'm right here ya know," Sawyer muttered against the window, and instead of feeling disappointed, she felt herself smile a little once more.

It wasn't all that bad, she decided, staying with both Jack and Sawyer. She was touched by how they were both determined to put aside their differences to save her, though had someone dared her to stay one night with the two a month ago, she would've laughed in their face.

"Yeah yeah, we know," Kate said as Sawyer sat up, staring out the window as trees rolled by.

"I guess we lost them," he said.

"Way back," Jack nodded.

"So you have no clue where we are?"

"No," Jack said, feeling himself become slightly more annoyed by the minute.

"So you don't know that there's somebody following us?" Sawyer said, looking through the mirror attached to his window.

"What?" Jack said, having to grip the steering wheel tight to keep from turning it.

"Gotcha," Sawyer smirked.

Kate hit his shoulder.

"That wasn't funny," she said, and then fell back into her seat, "he's right though. We're getting no where out here. They're still out there looking for us somewhere. We've got to hide."

"Well there's no turning back now," Jack said, "we go back, we'll run right into them."

"Then what do you suggest?" Sawyer said sarcastically.

"There's an alleyway up ahead," Jack said, noticing the upcoming buildings long ago, "why don't we just- hang out there for a while?"

"Hang out there for a while," Sawyer snickered, "great, sounds fun. You bringing the tupperware?"

"Shut up," Kate snap, sick of the bickering, and turned back to Jack, "it's fine. Give them a few hours, they'll get tired of us.

But a few hours drew on as Jack's plan became pointless. The SUV was parked in a dark alleyway, decorated with twice as much spray paint that was in Jack's apartment at the moment. Jack sat with the car door open, propped against the back of the seat with his legs dangling to the ground. Kate sat beside him on the ground, her back propped up against the wheel(she had made Jack swear that the engine was off) and Sawyer sat across from them, knees drawn up to his chest and his back against the brick wall behind him.

"Great plan," Sawyer said after actually managing to sit fifteen minutes in silence.

Both Jack and Kate sighed.

"Next time, we're calling the police," Sawyer went on, and looked at Kate, making sure she understood, "_that_ was my plan."

"What?" Kate said. "Wait for the police to come while they did God only knew what to me?"

This time, it was Jack's turn to smirk.

"Sh!" Sawyer hissed suddenly.

"What?" Kate asked, glancing around.

"Nothing," Sawyer said after the night had just grown quiet again, "thought I heard something."

"That's not funny," Kate muttered, relaxing a little.

"Wait," Jack said, just as quickly as Sawyer had.

"What now?" Kate groaned.

"Someone's coming," Jack whispered, face frozen.

"I could've sworn I heard someone over here!" The first guy whined in a childish tone.

"Just like you could've sworn another car was following us?" Another snapped.

"Yeah!" Then he stopped. "Wait..hold on."

"Wait, what the hell," said a third voice.

"Huh?"

"Tire tracks," the third voice explained.

Jack, Kate, and Sawyer all sat frozen, and it was clear to them. The chase wasn't over.

"Kate, get in the car," Sawyer whispered as quietly as he could.

Though she could hear him clearly, she couldn't move. It was as though she was glued to the ground.

"Kate!" Sawyer hissed louder.

Kate tried shaking herself out of it, knowing that remaining on the ground would only get one or more of them shot or worse. Pushing herself off the ground, she wavered from gravity, and Jack caught her to keep her balance. Sawyer had equally as hard of time standing up, but he had to result to grabbing onto the car for balance, as Jack and Kate were already arguing over who was going to drive.

"Jack you haven't gotten a wink of sleep!" Kate was shouting as softly as she could without getting too loud.

"It's my car!" Was Jack's only argument.

"Aw hell," Sawyer said, "I'll drive."

He made a grab for the keys in Jack's hand, but Jack jerked away, hiding the keys behind him.

"Come on Jack, stop it!" Kate cried. "You're going to get us killed."

"Have you ever even been in a car chase before?" Jack snapped.

"Have you?" Sawyer shot back.

"For God's sake just move over!" Kate sighed, rolling her eyes.

The two were bickering like a married couple who couldn't decided on a honeymoon location, and frankly, it was driving Kate insane. So she decided to put a stop to it. Shoving Jack to the side with a rough push, she grabbed the keys out of Jack's hand, and jumped into the car, closing the door before either of them could stop her. She soon had the engine started, and was backing out of the alley before Jack and Sawyer even realized what was happening.

"She just stole my car!" Jack said, staggering in the spot where his car once stood.

"Yeah, well that's the least of our problems," Sawyer said, "because from what we know, there are two different gangs out their who want us dead. Come on."

Jack followed Sawyer to the edge of the alleyway.

"What?" Jack said, and realized what Sawyer was doing. "We're going to steal a car?"

Sawyer nodded as his eyes scanned the abandon parking lot in front of them, landing on a black Ford.

"That car?" Jack said, breathing heavily.

"You don't catch on fast, do you?" Sawyer said. "Hell no. _That_ would be the car that we're after. We're stealing that car."

He pointed to another pickup, a beaten up truck with a broken tail light and shattered back window. Sawyer could almost laugh at the look on Jack's face that clearly read 'isn't that wrong?'

"Look at the bright side," Sawyer shrugged, "we don't have to worry about wrecking it. And I'm driving."

Just as Jack and Sawyer were about to formulate their plan, they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind them.

"Dammit," Sawyer muttered, and then turned to Jack, "just stay cool, all right? And don't say anything stupid. In fact, don't say anything at all."

"Fine," Jack muttered, having no problem with the demand whatsoever.

"What the hell are you two doing out here?" One of them said.

As the opposing men came closer towards the moonlight, Jack saw that they were each wearing tattered jeans with leather jackets, stolen, he presumed.

"Some southern trash and wise ass like yourself," he continued, nodding to Sawyer and Jack.

Sawyer clenched his fist inside his pockets beside him, trying to think of something to say.

"What?" The other said. "Your girlfriend leave you or somethin'?"

The thought of Kate touched a nerve in Jack, just thinking of how these two were just taking time away from when he could be saving her. Acting unrashionally, Jack threw himself at the second guy who had spoken to him.

"Jack!" Sawyer yelled in frustration, trying to pull him off of the guy, which only led to him receiving a punch to the jaw, which weakened Sawyer, giving him the down side of the fight, and he soon found himself being shoved back against the brick graffitied wall, and Jack was left to feed for himself as he felt his head flying from side to side with the rhythm of the man's fist.

Jack held up his battle for a while, giving the other guy a few good punches to the gut, and one in the jaw, but soon the past few sleepless night came back to haunt him as he felt himself growing slightly dizzy, and he staggered at the sudden quickly movement, which only went to his attacker's advantage as he was pushed to the ground and kicked in the side to keep him there, thrown down with a punch to the side of his face which sent caused his vision to fail. Jack had to admit that he was surprised at what one punch could do after all those fights on the island, and he had no choice but to accept it as he felt himself fall into darkness.

Author's Note: I didn't want to stop there, really! I'm just not sure how long I'll have to write today, and i wanted to get something out. Not to mention I need to think about the next part a little more. Thanks for all the reviews! I'm lovin' them!

Next up, on "Famous Last Words":

Jack wakes up to realize that they're far behind in the chase, and they have no choice but to try to find Kate, who gets herself in more trouble when the Ford passengers behind them take matters into their own hands to get their revenge on Kate- deadly revenge. And Sawyer better stop thinking about car wrecks and how car chases are supposed to be a little more interesting, the coma thing too- he might just jinx himself.

Thanks again, and sorry for the wait!

October Sky


	10. Chapter Ten

Famous Last Words

Chapter Ten

"Jack! Jack!"

Jack groaned as he felt his face move from sighed to side as he was slapped back into conscious, and he just wanted to tell whoever it was in front of him to stop and just deal with it. He wanted at least a few minutes of peace and quiet.

"Jack, come on, you gotta wake up!

Jack groaned again. He knew the voice was right. Kate was still out there, somewhere. Funny how, at the moment, he remembered about Kate, though he couldn't remember a single other thing about the night..only every single thing he had done with Kate. Every single thing.

Forcing his eyes open, he realized that his right was couroperating more than his left, and he was beginning to think of what his doctor would say if he had been truthful about what all had been done to it. A hazy form of Sawyer began to form in front of him, hovering in and out of vision, and he felt weak and sick as Sawyer tried to help him up. Jack waved Sawyer's hand away, remaining on the ground. He heard Sawyer let out a groan of frustration, and Jack realized: who knew how long he'd been out? Who knew where Kate was or what happened or was happening to her? Finally, he allowed Sawyer to help him out, and Sawyer knew his job was going to be much more difficult then just giving Jack a hand when Jack staggered, losing his balance as he let go.

"Woah," Sawyer said, grabbing onto him, "you all right?"

"Fine," Jack muttered, "just-"

Jack staggered again.

"Take it easy," Sawyer said, "here- just- sit down."

"No!" Jack said, startling Sawyer. "We've got to go help Kate."

"It's been an hour," Sawyer informed him, "for all we know, she's back at your place, watching tv."

"No," Jack said shaking his head, "the tv's broken."

"Funny," Sawyer snorted sarcastically.

When Jack knew that there was absolutely no way that walking or fighting off bad guys was in question for a while, Jack collapsed against the alley wall, leaving Sawyer to pace in front of him.

"An hour then?" Jack said, after letting his pulse die down.

"Yeah," Sawyer said, picking on a small trail of dry blood running from his lower lip.

"What did you do for an hour?" Jack asked curiously, thankful that his voice was finally coming back.

"Looked around," Sawyer said with a grin, "turns out, we've been sitting here for three hours in the alley of an abandon car lot."

"And that's a good thing?" Jack said, trying to see the point.

"We ain't in the jungle anymore," Sawyer said, "how far are you plannin' on getting."

"Right.."

At news of this, and a new hope of saving Kate- or at least find out where she was and if she was okay, and maybe get the three of them to a hospital- Jack forced himself to stand, and was grateful when he saw that he could do this on his own. Carefully, he then followed Sawyer to the edge of the alleyway.

Checking to make sure the coast was clear, Sawyer ran across the parking lot without looking back, leaving Jack standing there, trying to catch up on what was happening. Finally, Jack shook his head, and followed.

The car door was stuck the first time Sawyer jerked on it, but flew open on the second. Hoping in the driver's seat, Sawyer checked the compartments attached to the dashboard, as if he knew what he was doing, and sure enough, the keys were laying right there on top of the registration.

"How'd you know about that?" Jack said, aghast.

"Let's just say I work in the business."

Jack decided that he really didn't want to know, and instead of pushing the subject, got into the passengers seat with no objections. In all truth, Jack himself was exhausted, but he figured that as long as he didn't show it, it was okay. And anyway, what was more important to him now: Kate or a few hours of sleep? Just as he thought this, the black Ford started up and drove after the path Kate took, and Sawyer followed it. But before, Jack just gave Sawyer a look before Sawyer started the car.

"What?"

"You aren't going to put on your seat belt?" Jack said in a tone that stated 'I'm not paying for your ticket'.

"You've never been to jail, have you?" Sawyer said, amused.

"No," Jack admitted, "but I've never been in a car chase either..save this one..and it doesn't look like it's going to turn out movie-perfect."

"Meaning I'm a bad driver?" Sawyer said, eyes narrowing.

"Meaning I don't trust you as a driver," said Jack.

Sighing, Sawyer gave in and after a small click tore the night's air, and turned to Jack.

"Happy now?"

"You'll think me later," Jack said with a knowing smile, looking out the window as Sawyer started up the car, beginning the chase.

(Space)

"We've got to throw them off."

"What?" Sawyer said, paying no attention at all to anything except the car in front of him.

"The car behind us," Jack explained, "whoever it is. We've got to throw them off."

"So great," Sawyer sighed, "now what your plan?"

"When you get to the intersection up ahead," Jack said, looking out the window, "turn left. It'll throw them off guard."

"Why?"

"Because turning left takes you to an abandon back road that nobody drives," Jack explained, "and that road will take you to a gas station."

"What, you hungry?" Sawyer sniggered.

"No, they'll have a phone," Jack went on, trying his hardest not to let Sawyer's comments bother him. At least I can call my place, find out if we're driving all over the state for nothing."

"You should think more often," Sawyer committed, "might save a few people from getting killed."

(Space)

Kate blinked to keep herself from falling asleep. The engine roared underneath her as she drove, and she came to realize that she liked Jack's car. Both driving it, and the knowledge that it was Jack's car. Though it spooked her to think of all that had gone on inside it. She shook her head. _Stay focused..stay focused._

A yell erupted from the car behind her that made Kate jumped. She calmed down when she saw that the yell wasn't directed to her. Her worries then went to Sawyer and Jack. Where were they? Were they all right? She sighed. For all she knew, they were dead, buried in some dumpster in the projects. But a sudden pop jerked her away from her thoughts.

The window behind her shattered and Kate screamed for no one to hear. Someone was shooting at her.

_Pop. Pop. Pop._

Kate ducked and swerved to avoid being shot. But ducking and driving didn't go to well together, and Kate's head was almost blown off, and the wheel she was gripping blew as she felt herself jerk back. The car stop. She didn't know what happened. It had just- stopped. Was it another shot that she was unaware of? She cursed herself from the jinx she had just placed as another bullet whizzed by, shattering the front window of Jack's car, and the last thing Kate remembered was thinking, _Jack's gonna kill me_, before she was showered in glass.

(Space)

"Hey, Jack," Sawyer said after driving a few moments in silence.

"What now?"

It was now four in the morning, and Jack began to feel himself growing restless again. Through the shattered glass mirror than hung loosely from the car's exterior, Jack could see small circles forming on top of the bags that were already there, and he could just hear Kate's lectures now.

"Thought you said the car wasn't supposed to be behind us," Sawyer said, glancing through the review mirror.

"I did," Jack said, poking himself in the arm to wake him up.

"Well, they are."

"What?" Jack cried, and looked behind him.

At the sight of the drivers eyes behind him, Jack slouched down in his seat.

"Dammit," he muttered.

"What do we do now?" Sawyer said, assuming that Jack had a backup plan.

"Drive faster," was all Jack could think of.

Sawyer did, but the faster he drove, the faster the car behind them picked up, and they were right on the stolen truck's tail, and Jack got the wind knocked out of him the first time the car hit the bumper of their car.

"Hell," Sawyer muttered as he put the truck in the fastest gear he could.

But speeding up while another car was right on your bumper didn't work as well as Sawyer had planned. With a last hit, their car went sailing, flipping once, then twice, and the car hit the road.

Boom.

It sounded like a bomb had gone off. Jack felt cool blood trickle down the side of his face, and he could hear Sawyer scream uncontrollably beside him as the car skidded across the road, before coming to a stop as it smashed against a light post.

Jack was frozen. Glass covered him, and he knew one move, and he could cut himself, and receive possibly a far worse injury than he had already had from that night. He tried to tell Sawyer the same thing, not to move right away, but he couldn't bring himself to talk. The window beside him was busted in, and Jack moved his head the slightest to look out the window.

The road was covered in glass, along with a line of blood ran from the middle of the road towards the car they had stolen. He could barely make the silhouette of the other car a few feet from them, and Jack wondered if it was so wrong that part of him was glad that the passenger(or passengers) of the other car took the deep end. Suddenly a loud rasp of coughs let out beside him, and a mixture of blood and smoke filled the air.

"Sawyer," Jack said weakly, hoping Sawyer wouldn't do anything stupid as he too was recovering from the shock of the wreck.

Of all he had been through on the island, this had to be worse than them all. Even the plane crash itself didn't hurt this bad- at least then he had blacked out. But this time, Jack had seen the entire thing, as if being punished for something.

It had been as if he had been the only one on a roller coaster ride, though he couldn't recall hearing himself scream. He knew Sawyer had, that much was obvious(or at least, Sawyer had before he had momentarily blacked out there) but he couldn't remember if he had. It was odd- why wouldn't he had been able to? That was only a few minutes ago.

"Good, I'm alive," Sawyer said, just as weakly as Jack.

"Unless we're both dead," Jack said lightly.

"Hah," Sawyer muttered.

"Just, don't move, all right?" Jack said.

"Why?"

"There's glass everywhere," Jack pointed out.

"Not over here."

"Huh?" Jack said, turning his head before he realized what he was doing. "Ouch! Dammit!"

A small shred of glass cut into his neck, right above where Kate had 'accidentally' kissed him just a little too hard. _At least now they'll think that's from the crash,_ Jack thought, figuring they'd make it to a hospital sometime. Thankfully, only a little bit of blood was on his finger when he pulled it back.

"Smart," Sawyer committed, "nice bruise by the way."

"What?"

And then Jack realized he must've seen the small mark above the fresh blood. _Great,_ he thought, _I'll never hear the end of it. _

"So I guess I should think you," Sawyer said, clearly having no trouble recovering from the crash, which only made Jack feel weaker, and he vowed that for now on, he'd try to get at least a few hours of sleep in a night.

"For what?" Jack said, wondering what he'd done that Sawyer could possibly be thanking him for.

"For making me wear that seat belt," Sawyer said with a chuckle, "guess we were lucky, huh?"

"Pretty damn lucky," Jack agreed.

What stories they would have to tell Kate- _Kate_. A pang of guilt formed in his stomach. Not knowing rather or not she was all right hurt, with much worse pain than any injury could ever cause.

"What?" Sawyer said at Jack's sudden quietness.

"Nothing," Jack said, "we've got to get out of here. We still don't know where Kate is. Think you can get out on your own?"

"Yeah," Sawyer said and a seat belt clicked, "this window was already shattered. There wasn't much glass."

"Good," Jack said, "the door over here's jammed and the windshield and the window are broken in."

"Like I said before," said Sawyer as he rolled out, "we won't have to worry about wrecking the car."

Jack let out a small laugh as he crawled out Sawyer's door, taking Sawyer's hand as he was pulled up into a standing position, and he was once again thankful when this time, he was actually able to gain his balance on his own. That's when Sawyer looked at him, and started laughing.

"What?" Jack asked, wishing things didn't have to be so amusing.

They were becoming hard to keep up with.

"Whew," Sawyer said, calming down, "you know, if Kate based her pick on looks, we'd both be out of the race."

"The race you already lost, you mean?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sawyer said, looking up the road, "that gas station's just up ahead if you still wanna check it out."

"No," Jack said, "I've got another idea."

He rest his arm casually against the car to make it less obvious that it was hurt, and didn't even think to make sure that whoever it was who hit them wasn't there.

"Okay, here's what I need you to do-"

Jack never got far. A scream erupted in the night and a car whizzed by, never stopping to see if either car needed help. But that wasn't all. It was a scream Jack heard before, one that both he and Sawyer recognized.

"Was that Kate?" Sawyer said, thinking he was hearing things.

"Yeah," Jack nodded.

"New plan?"

"Yeah," Jack said, "looks like they're stopping up at that gas station."

"Thought you said nobody took this road," Sawyer pointed out.

"I guess I was wrong," Jack said, shrugging it off, "anyway, we need to get up to that gas station, and when we get there, I need you to call for help- police, whoever you can get. Then I need you to get a ride back to the apartment and wait there. At least then we would know where at least one of us was."

"Okay," Sawyer said, formulating the plan in his head, "what about you?"

"Me?" Jack said, thinking about it. "I'll wait until the driver gets out of the car, then I'll sneak in the back of the truck with Kate. We'll just- take it from there."

"I'm sure you will," Sawyer said with a smirk.

"Sawyer!" Jack growled. "This is serious!"

"I know, I know," Sawyer said, wiping the smirk off, "so why don't you just knock the guy out, steal the car."

"Because you might not be able to get that far," Jack said, "unless you want everything pinned on you."

"Nah, that's all right," Sawyer said, "I'll give you the pleasure of having your first night in jail."

"Thanks," Jack said sarcastically, "like I was saying, I want to make sure Kate's okay first off, and I'll work from there."

(Space)

Jack watched from a distance as Sawyer talked a truck driver into giving him a ride, manipulating him into thinking that his mother had just had a heart attack. It was kind of mean, especially since both Jack and Sawyer knew his parents were dead, but whatever it took. Sawyer had managed to get in touch with the police, but had hung up in frustration after having to wait a moment to long, so Jack had told him that he might as well just go back to the apartment, and take it easy. Sawyer knew Kate would kill him for 'just sitting at home' but she'd get over it, not to mention that the more people that went along on something like this, the harder it was.

So now, Jack waited until he was certain that the driver of the ford was out of the car before stepping on the lever that helped life him up into the back compartment. For a moment, Jack considered stealing the car, but he figured the driver would have to stop sometime soon. Not to mention only one stolen car was better than two.

A blue tarp covered the surface of the back of the truck, and its smooth pattern was thrown off by a lump that sat against the window behind the back seats, which was covered in duck tape and a number of bumper stickers, full of profane language and sayings. Ducking under the tarp, Jack lay down against the cool steel of the truck, and wiggled his way to the unconscious form of what he thought was Kate. When he saw that his thoughts were ended true, he let out a sigh of relief.

Giving himself a moment to make sure he'd be able to talk(the last thing he needed was to scare Kate) he poked at her sleeping form.

"Kate," he whispered softly, "Kate, come on, you've gotta wake up."

Kate's head moved in the slightest, and Jack exhaled deeply, making the tarp above him move up a little.

"Wha-?" Kate moaned as her eyes fluttered open, and widened at the sight of Jack.

She let out a scream and scooted back, but Jack grabbed her, praying no one out side heard that.

"It's all right," Jack said, trying to shake her out of it, "it's me, Jack. You're all right."

"Oh God," Kate muttered leaning her head back against the wall of the truck as she breathed heavily, "what- what are you doing here."

Looking over, she saw Jack's battered face. He still had a bruise over his eye from the fight, and a few trails of blood from the wreck. His right arm was still killing him, and Jack could only hope that it wasn't broken. Kate reached up, letting her finger trail down one of the many lines of blood, wiping some of it off.

"What happened?" She asked, worried.

"Long story," Jack said, not protesting at her touch, "I'll tell you in a minute, but I need you to be honest with me."

"Not going to ask me to marry me, are you?" Kate asked will a small smile.

Jack began to envy the way that both Kate and Sawyer were able to keep up their humor in dramatic times, while all he was able to do was worry.

"No," Jack said, trying and failing to smile, "are you hurt or anything? What happen?"

"Would you hate me if I told you I don't remember?"

This time, Jack was able to smile, just a little bit.

"No."

"Good."

They sat in silence for a moment before Kate started looking around, as if on instinct.

"Where's Sawyer?" She asked suddenly.

"He's going back to the apartment," Jack told her.

"Why?" She asked, worry building. "Is he hurt?"

"He'll live," Jack said, "I just told him to go back and wait-"

"You told him that!"

"Well this is kind of a one man job," he said, "and, well, I decided to be that man."

Kate calmed down a little and went back to being more serene, with the half smile still planted on her face.

"Thanks," she said, "for, you know, coming after me."

"It's what I do, isn't it?" Jack said, and was considering kissing her when the car started up.

Kate immediately tensed beside her, and grabbed his hand. Jack let her head fall onto her shoulder where she sat, petrified.

"Jack," she whispered, "I'm scared."

"Don't be," Jack said, and unlike that day in the bank, there was no objection, "just- go to sleep. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

Nodding, Kate was already drifting off to sleep, and though he tried to fight it, Jack soon found himself falling into the same zone.

(Space)

When Jack stirred, the first thing he realized was that something heavy lay on one shoulder. The second was that his back was against something hard, and the left side of his face ached along with his back. It was only then that he remembered everything that had happened, and with the last memory he had being falling asleep in the car with Kate, he was wondering why they weren't moving, when he realized-

"Kate!" Jack whispered softly, shaking her lightly. "Kate, wake up, we've stopped!"

"What?" Kate said, yawning as she woke up. "What- who- where are we?"

She frightened Jack for a moment when she looked at him as though she wasn't sure who he was, but then relaxed when Kate settled down a bit.

"We stopped moving," Jack repeated, "I don't think there's anybody in the car."

"Can we take that risk?" Kate asked, adjusting her position she was sitting in.

"Yeah," Jack said.

Carefully, Jack lifted up the tarp and looked out. They were on the side of what looked to be a cliff. The morning's sun was just rising, and the sky was a shade of a beautiful dark purple. Jack estimated the time to be around four-thirty, maybe even five by now, and he began to wonder if Sawyer was worried about them, or if he, like they had, had just fallen asleep. He threw the tarp off of him as if he was just waking up and throwing the covers off, welcoming himself to the mountain. Kate seemed more taken aback by the beauty than anything.

"Wow," was all she could say as she sat up, and then looked back behind her, "I think you're right. They're gone."

Jack looked around. They must've been on the edge of some kind of park because they were surrounded by trees of every type. Birds chirped in the distance, and the place reminded Jack of being back on the island waking up from his one or two hours naps before the others awoke, and heading out to his spot on the beach.

"Let's see if the car will start up," Jack said, "get back home."

"Or," Kate said, scooting closer to him, "we could wait. Let Sawyer sleep in for a while, and then take it from there."

As she talked, she let her fingers climb up Jack's arm, and Jack couldn't resist.

"All right," he agreed, "but only for a while. They might come back."

"I doubt they'd leave us out here for nothing," Kate said, "whatever their stupid plan was, I don't know but- let's just rest a minute."

Fifteen minutes later, Jack and Kate were sitting on the hood of the truck, surrounded by sunlight, letting their legs dangle beneath them.

"Some night, huh?" Kate said.

"Yeah," Jack said, "and just when you think they're over.."

Kate laughed a little, and studied Jack's face, which was still bruised the slightest. She knew he must be drowsy from the blood loss, and in a normal world, he'd probably be in a hospital bed, and most likely with a cast or two. But since when was Jack's life normal.

"You know I think if I had known what was coming," Jack continued, "I think I would've passed on the rescue."

"I'm not so sure," Kate said, giving him a smile.

(Space)

Sawyer jerked away around five in the morning. His eyes darted around. When had he fallen asleep? He remembered getting back to the apartment, and waiting in silence for hours for Jack and Kate to return, but they never did. Now, he was reacting to a sound. A crash. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, but he was sure it wasn't good.

Picking himself up, he snuck over to the counter where Jack's phone was, and quickly dialed the cell number Jack had given him.

(Space)

Jack and Kate remained seated on the hood of the car, saying nothing as Kate leaned against Jack, and he held his balance with his sore arm as she did, though she never said anything. Suddenly, a ring tone rang from somewhere close by, and Kate's head spun around.

"What was that?" She said in a panic.

It took a moment for Jack to realize it was his phone, and he fished for it from deep down his pant's pocket. Finally he found it, and turned it on just as Kate was saying, "That thing survived the entire night."

"I didn't even know I had it," Jack said before answering, "hello?"

"Jack?" Sawyer said in a low voice over the phone.

"Sawyer?" Jack said, and Kate immediately drew interest to the conversation, turning towards him.

"What's wrong?" Kate whispered.

"Sh," Jack told her, and then echoed her question, "what's wrong?"

"I think someone's trying to break in," Sawyer said in a hushed voice.

"And you can't take care of that?" Jack said, knowing that Sawyer wasn't the type to call and ask for help.

"Yeah," Sawyer answered.

Inside Jack's apartment, Sawyer was trying to sneak around in the dark, trying to find somewhere to hide, or a weapon to use.

"I was wondering if you would've happened to keep those guns from the case," he continued.

_The guns,_ Jack thought back in the truck,_ I completely forgot about them._ During the rescue, Kate was Jack's only worry, and it wasn't until they were halfway to South America that he thought of his dad's body, along with the Marshall's(hey, he had to have family somewhere), but he figured it be selfish to ask them to turn back, which was easier said in his mind then said to his mother.

"No," Jack said, feeling helpless, "there's some knives though in the-"

"I'm not Locke!" Sawyer hissed into the phone, and back inside the apartment, his toe hit against the wooden bottom of a shelf, and he let out a curse."

"Listen," Jack said over the phone, "I don't know if my mom brought the box by but if she did, there should be some kind of safety deposit box in the closet of my room. The number's four eight one, got that?"

"Yeah," Sawyer said, heading that direction, and hung up before Jack could say anything else.

Pushing open the door to Jack's room, Sawyer suddenly felt like a kid who was sneaking into his parents room for money. He followed Jack's directions, and fumbled a few times before unlocking the safety deposit box that lay hidden under some hospital scrubs. Inside the box was a thick envelope with Jack's name written on it in scrawled, ancient letters. On top of the envelope sat a 9 mm with a pack of ammo. Sawyer loaded the gun, and quickly placed it in the back pocket of his pants as he heard another crash from the living room. As he closed the closet door, he debated about rather to stay in the room, or risk going out. His mind was quickly made up when he heard the door to the room open, and on first instinct, he dove under the bed.

_Wimp,_ he told himself as he took the gun into his hands and cradled it, _wimp._

Concealed in the shadows underneath the bed, Sawyer was hidden from the intruder, but whoever it was obviously knew who he was. Boots moved across the floor in hard steps, and Sawyer fought to hold his breath as they came closer, the floor creaking with each step. Then, just as the intruder was pulling up the covers to look under the bed, Sawyer slid out, and when the trespasser looked back up, he found Sawyer in a stance, gun pointed straight in between the intruders eyes.

"Woah, hold it," the intruder said.

Sawyer was surprised to find that the man across from him didn't have a gun, or at least, didn't appear to, but Sawyer didn't back down. For some reason he couldn't explain, Sawyer felt revengeful, and it was for far more reason than just this guy following them around them for a week.

"You don't know what your doin' with that thing," he continued.

He was also surprised to find that the man had some sort of southern accent of his own, but not as thick as Sawyer's.

"I know exactly what I'm doin' with it," Sawyer said, his finger shaking against the trigger.

"Let's just talk this through-"

"Talk this through?" Sawyer repeated with a dry caught. "Do you know how much hell you've put me through in the past week?"

"Hey, I don't know-"

Sawyer didn't give him a chance to finish his lie. One moment he was standing, and for the second time in his life, was able to pull a murder stunt for reasons the person opposite had nothing to do with, and the next, he was flying across the room, grabbing the intruder by the neck and tackling him to the floor. He got in a few more punches before he felt himself roll over, and soon the intruder was on top of him.

Almost afraid to once again face the feeling of being punch, Sawyer raised his arm, letting the first few hits bounce off his shoulder. But he then lost control when he was grabbed, and thrown against the rear of the bed, hitting the mattress with a thud, and the next thing he knew, Sawyer found a gun being pointed at _him_.

Author's Note: Muhaha. Soo evil, aren't I? I have half of the next chapter done. I just really liked that cliffhanger. Thanks for all the reviews!

Coming up next on "Famous Last Words":

Lots of blood, tears, and comic relief. Angsty stuff.

Thanks again!

October Sky


	11. Chapter Eleven

Famous Last Words

Chapter Eleven

_If you were to drop dead right now, would you be satisfied with your life?_

_When you die, you not only have to forgive others, but you have to forgive yourself- Tuesdays with Morrie(will find the exact quote later_

_He asked me why I didn't where a seat belt in those scenes and I told him: death wouldn't wear a seat belt- James Head from the Dead Zone on playing 'death'._

Sawyer's eyes widened as the man's hand came closer and closer to the trigger, and he was paralyze, unable to do anything except to cringe, and try to twist his body to where it would've been impossible to hit his chest. Then he had nothing to do but just sit there and wait for the man to the gun to shoot, imagining what it felt like to be shot as he watched as a million thoughts ran through the intruder's head. At last, the intruder's finger pulled tightly against the trigger, and the bullet seemed to travel through slow motion, until making home in Sawyer's left shoulder, just above where Sayid stabbed him months before.

Grabbing his arm in pain, Sawyer watched in horrific fascination as the red liquid seeped through his fingers, staining his shirt, and leaking onto Jack's white carpet.

_He's gonna kill me,_ Sawyer thought as he squeezed his arm tightly, hoping that that would stop the pain.

It didn't and the man who shot him seemed to be able to do nothing more than to just watch as Sawyer glared at him, frightened by what was going on.

Fear was a new thing that Sawyer had discovered that night. The wreck, being shot. Events that he couldn't control. Even with being tortured, he could've controlled that, only chose not to. But now, as he felt himself slip away, just the thought of someone or something else being able to control what was happening to him irked Sawyer, and in a way, made him nervous. And those were his last thoughts as the man in front of him finally blinked and turned, running away as Sawyer finally lost consciousness.

(Space)

It had miraculously taken Jack and Kate only two hours to find their way back to Jack's apartment. When they did, Jack threw open the door, and the first thing that told him something that was wrong was the fact that the door was unlocked. The second was that it was six in the morning and the room still managed to be pitch black. Kate herself was frozen with equal fear, and was praying that any moment, Sawyer would come walking through the kitchen, maybe with a beer in his hand, and yell 'gotcha'. But it never happened.

Jack made the first move, stepping into the apartment and Kate followed, each foot stepping heavily on the ground behind the first. Setting his keys down, Jack observed new damage to the apartment, though thankfully this time, only raging as far as a turned over chair or two. Whoever the intruder was had gone through the unlocked balcony door, and Jack immediately hated himself for not thinking about locking it earlier that night.

"Sawyer," Kate called quietly, "you in here?"

Jack wanted to tell Kate that she shouldn't call out, just in case the intruder was still in here, but found himself unable to stop her. At the silence that followed her call, Kate began racing around the apartment, and the last place she checked was Jack's room, where a loud gasp followed her entrance.

"Jack!" She cried in a panic, and Jack ran in after her.

"Oh God," Jack said in a breath at the site that lay before him.

Up against the bed lay Sawyer, clearly unconscious. His right hand was clutching his left arm, and both were drowned in blood. It took Jack a moment to comprehend what he was seeing before dropping to his knees, removing Sawyer's hand from his arm, quickly able to conclude what he saw.

"He was shot," Jack informed Kate quietly.

But Kate didn't respond. She felt sick, like she could throw up any second, but was frozen in space, which didn't suite well with Jack's next orders.

"Kate," he said quickly, "I need you to go to the bathroom, kitchen, wherever and get me some hand towels. We need to stop the bleeding."

"He's still bleeding?" Kate said softly, looking at Sawyer in horror.

"Yes," Jack said, assuming that Kate would fulfill his orders afterward.

When she didn't, he just looked at her, and though he felt bad for having to yell at her, Jack knew he had to to get her attention.

"Kate!"

With that, Kate ran out of the room, and Jack stripped off the jacket he was wearing and held it to Sawyer's arm as he took his phone out of his pocket. One handed, he dialed 911.

"Hello?" The operator said in a tired, worn out voice.

"Yes," Jack responded, "I need an ambulance. I've got a here shot."

"And your address sir?"

Jack's mind went blank. What was his address? It took a few moments for it took come back to Jack's mind, and the only way he remembered was because it matched the number he had given Sawyer for the safety deposit box. Spitting out the address, Jack hung up as the operator began giving him intstructions Jack already knew, and it startled him for a moment when he heard a groan under him. Sawyer was awake. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was alive.

"Jack-" Sawyer muttered, barely audible.

"Don't talk," Jack said, and looked back towards the door, and shouted, "Kate! He's awake!"

"Do ya have ta yell?" Sawyer said, slurred as he tried to move.

"Sorry," Jack said, his earlier thoughts of envying Sawyer and Kate's humor coming back to him.

On cue, Kate ran into the room, and shoved the towels into Jack's hands as she dropped beside Sawyer. She pulled a lock of sweaty hair, stained with blood, out of his eyes, and he looked up to her.

"Hey, "she said softly, "how do you feel?"

"Trick question, right?" Sawyer said.

Kate chuckled a little, trying to keep up Sawyer's good humor, knowing it was the only thing that stopped Kate, and maybe Jack too, from having a nervous break down. Sawyer then turned, and watched as Jack wrapped the wound as tightly as he could, ignoring the spare blood on his hands.

"Guess I screwed myself up pretty badly, huh?" Sawyer said in a low mutter.

"Can't keep yourself out of trouble, can you?" Jack said, and beside him, Kate smiled the tiniest bit, which made him do the same.

"So I guess I'm dyin' then."

The statement made Jack stop. Was Sawyer that afraid? Or was it more of an acceptance? He could die and he didn't care?

"No," Jack said, "I think you've got a long life ahead of you."

"Great," Sawyer muttered, as if that was the last answer he wanted to hear.

Sawyer tried to sit up, but had to lay back down in defeat, and began to wish that he didn't have such a hotheaded ego when he felt blood suddenly rush out of him, and he moaned loudly, feeling much more weaker than before. He tried to open his mouth to talk, but no words came down. Like his body was shutting down in one move.

"What's happening?" Kate asked frantically.

"I don't know," Jack said, equally frantic with trying to stop the blood flow.

Wiping some of the sweat off his face with his sleeve, Jack muttered, "Where's the damn ambulance?" under his breath, which only worried Kate more.

"You can still help him right?" Kate said. "I mean, he was fine just a minute ago."

"He's losing too much blood," Jack said, looking down at Sawyer, who was fighting to keep his eyes open, "try and keep him awake."

"How do I do that?" Kate asked as she repeated the motion of pulling Sawyer's hair back out of his face.

There was really no need for it, but somehow it seemed to calm her down, and she knew that if Sawyer saw them panicked, he'd lose all hope, if he hadn't all ready.

"Talk to him," Jack said, pressing down harder.

Sawyer gasped and winced at the pain that came from the push, and began to breathe even harder. He could feel the life rushing from him, and knew that death was only a door away, and with each breath, he was taking a step closer. He should've known that he was crazy, and the only reason the situation was so horrible was because of all the blood loss, but for someone who lay on the ground, hardly able to see and breathe, everything seemed hazy and hopeless.

"Sorry-" Sawyer managed to get out with a caught.

"What?" Jack said suddenly, and looked at Kate. "What's he saying?"

"Sorry-" Sawyer muttered over and over again.

"He's-" Kate struggled to hear him, "he's apologizing for something."

"Find out what," Jack instructed, and Kate looked at him, "keep him talking."

"Don't be sorry," Kate said, stroking his hair, "you'll be fine."

Sawyer let out another dry cough, trying to clear his throat.

"Sorry about the blood," Sawyer finished, and for some reason, Kate found herself relief, though Jack didn't understand.

"What blood?" Jack said, confused.

Sawyer didn't replay, unable to, as Kate glanced down towards the ground, she almost laughed.

"I think he means the blood on the carpet," Kate said with a sad smile.

"Oh," Jack said, knowing that he should've figured that Sawyer wouldn't get all angsty and sensitive, even in a moment like this.

"Tell Sayid-" Sawyer tried next, but ended up with more rasp coughs, "tell Sayid-"

"Tell Sayid what?" Kate asked, leaning towards him, trying to understand what Sawyer was trying to say.

"Tell Sayid I forgive him," Sawyer said all in one breath before his eyes closing by themselves, blinking open heavily only every few seconds, "I'm sorry.."

Jack and Kate exchanged a glance and Kate grabbed Sawyer's hand as his head began to tilt to the side.

"No!" Jack said, in attempt to startle Sawyer awake.

No response.

"Come on Sawyer," Jack said desperately, "you've gotta stay awake."

The only response that came from Sawyer was a small groan from his mouth, and Kate dropped his hand as Sawyer's face turned a deathly pale white, and just as he drifted off, the soft relieving sounds of sirens wailed in the distance.

Author's Note: Don't kill me yet! Just wait until the end! Trust me! Thanks for all the reviews!

Coming up next, in "Famous Last Words":

Jack's life slowly begins to turn back around as the survivors join together in a reunion chapter, and along with them, Jack's dear old mom. I'm actually not sure if this will be in the next chapter, or a chapter on its own, but I don't want to spoil what's happening next!

Hope everyone understood what all just happened! Thanks again!

October Sky


	12. Chapter Twelve

Famous Last Words

Chapter Twelve

A soft humming brought Sawyer back into the world, though he couldn't be sure he was really alive. Could this not be another one of those coma dreams? Or was he just dead, and this was like the roller coaster up to Heaven? Then again, Heaven would probably laugh at his name.

The humming grew louder and louder, and the only reason Sawyer tried to open his eyes was to tell it or whoever was causing it to stop. Who knew, maybe he was welcoming himself to a conversation with God. Though unless Jack or Kate were God, he was without a doubt, alive. Unless, of course, they were all dead. That very thought seemed familiar to him, someone had said it to him before, but he couldn't remember who.

He new Jack and Kate were in the same room, seated side by side in hospital chairs, but he didn't wake them just yet. Instead, he took a moment to observe his surroundings, and try to get a clearer picture of what was going on. The last thing he remembered was dying, or what he thought was dying, on the floor of Jack's apartment. Now as he tried to move, he noticed his shoulder was set in a sling, but instead of pain, his entire arm was numb. Lifting up his good hand, Sawyer touched the soft skin above his face, and quickly brought it back away. He wasn't psychic, but he could make a pretty safe bet that his face looked twice as worse as Jack's. Glancing to the side, Sawyer studied the couple sleeping near him, and was almost struck with jealousy at how peaceful they looked.

Jack's face was bruised red and blue on the left side, and his right wrist was in some kind of splint. A baggy of melted ice dangled loosely from his good hand, and he noticed a plastic cup of coffee sat on the windowsill. Kate's head rested on his shoulder, and his arm was buried into the muscles of his arms, as if she were at some point cold.

"Well that's a sight I never thought I'd see," Sawyer said, surprised at the sound his own voice.

He sounded like an old man trapped in a young man's body. Too young to die, too old to move on. But the sound was good enough to wake up Jack, who jerked in his seat, practically jumping out of it, but his hands gripped the cool plastic sides just in time. It took a moment for Jack to realize what was going on, but his face slowly lit up as he did.

"Hey, Kate," Jack said, shaking her, acting as if her sleeping on him didn't bother him at all.

"Huh?" Kate said as she woke up, like a kid who's parents woke them early Christmas morning.

"Sawyer's awake," Jack said, and had it not been for Jack's sustained injuries and his own, Sawyer would've otherwise considered the possibility of a real coma.

Kate flew out of her chair as quickly as Jack woke up.

"How're you feeling?" She asked, smiling at him.

This time, Sawyer answered her.

"Weird," Sawyer admitted, and reached up with his right hand to trace a pink scar that had formed on his arm, "what the hell did they do to me?"

"They took you into emergency surgery," Jack spoke up, and Sawyer looked at him in horror, "don't worry, I stayed out of it-" Sawyer relaxed a bit, "they got the bullet out, and worked a little on the stab wound. Apparently you had some infected tissue in there, so in a way, you could call yourself lucky."

"I think I'll call myself lucky anyway," Sawyer said, taking a nervous glance towards the unfamiliar instruments and machines around him, "how long am I in here for?"

"At least a week in a half," Kate informed him, "and then comes physical therapy-" Sawyer groaned miserably and threw himself back into the hospital pillows, "but don't worry, we'll be with you every step of the way."

At the teasing tone of her voice, Sawyer took the time to glare at her, and then to Jack.

"Next time," he said, "you're taking the bullet."

Jack laughed a little, knowing he was joking, but Kate immediately jumped to his defense.

"Hey!" Kate said. "You're not the only one who got lectured."

"Oh, right," Sawyer said, "what's worse than getting shot?"

"Being told you'll go blind if you get punched again," Kate offered, "but we're keeping that quiet- in case he has any enemies out."

"What?" Sawyer said. "Patience raising from the dead?"

Both Kate and Sawyer chuckled at this, but Jack grew quiet, though without trying to draw much attention to himself.

"I'll go tell the nurse your awake," Jack said, and Kate nodded, touching his arm as he left.

(Space)

Kate kept her promise to Sawyer, and with her and Jack's help, he was able to undergo a successful recovery, though Kate had to be the first to learn from experience that Sawyer was not a morning person. Luckily, he had yet to make any bad impressions on the doctors, though Jack claimed it probably helped that they were all blonde, good looking, and about his age.

On the last night of Sawyer's stay at the hospital, Kate caught him at a particularly bad time, while he was in one of his depressed moods. He often just lay there as the tv above him played an old, silent, Stephen King movie(or something along the likes) staring at his fingers as Kate watched him, only this time, he talked.

"I could've stopped it," Sawyer said in a low, sorrowful voice.

"Huh?" Kate said, snapping herself out of a daze.

Sawyer drummed his thumbs against the black splint that was holding his arm in place, while thinking.

"He didn't even want to shoot me," Sawyer tried to explain, "I could see it in his eyes. And I just sat there, waiting..I could've died."

"Sawyer-"

"I could've died," he repeated, "and I just hid under the bed until I let my damn pride get to me, and I thought I could get him. It wasn't even his gun. He didn't even have a gun."

"That was over a week ago," Kate pointed out, wondering why someone like Sawyer, who got in fights every other day, was beating himself up over a gunshot wound.

"A week ago, a month ago, four months ago," Sawyer looked at her with errie, cold eyes, "do you still have dreams about the crash?"

Kate stared at him, wondering how he could've known.

"What gives you that idea?" She said softly, trying not to give herself away.

Sawyer ignored her, and began to tell his own story, as if replying to his own question.

"There was this little girl sitting behind me," Sawyer said, sighing as he stared at the ceiling, "anyone kid. She wasn't even supposed to be there, but she was traveling with his father who was some sort of accountant or something. Talked the entire flight about some stupid tv show, and all through when the turbulence hit, I could hear her screaming behind me.

Kate looked up from where she had diverted her gaze to the ground. Why hadn't he ever told her that story before? Was it something that had been eating him up since the crash?

"And the whole time," Sawyer continued, "I wanted to tell her to shut up. I had a head ache."

He looked at Kate before speaking again.

"She died."

Sitting back in her chair, Kate knew her eyes were widening as they remained glued to Sawyer's, though she wanted nothing more to dart out of the room.

"Sorry," Sawyer said, turning away and clearing his throat, "I shouldn't of brought that down on ya."

"No," Kate said after taking a minute to find her voice, "I'm glad you did."

"Oh, and Kate," Sawyer said weakly, and turned to her, "tell Jack to open that letter."

Kate stared at him.

"What?" She asked, confused.

Just as he fell asleep, Sawyer muttered, "He'll know what I'm talkin' about" and was out for the rest of the night.

(Space)

The next day, Jack picked up Sawyer and Kate at the hospital, and after many hours of waiting and filling out papers(with Sawyer grunting the entire time about how there was no way the hospitals that much information) and a flaw in Sawyer's insurance that he had 'forgotten' to renew, the three were walking out the door; and Sawyer was calling it the worse week of his life, though Kate swear she caught him winking at one of the nurses.

"Hey, Jack!" A doctor called, running after them.

The three turning around, and Jack was surprised to see his supervisor, Max, running towards him.

"Hi," Jack said, feeling a little awkward.

What were you supposed to say to a guy that just fired you. Max nodded to Kate and Sawyer, glancing at the splint on Sawyer's arm, as well as Jack's.

"I heard about what happened," Max said, "the wreck, the robbery and all."

"Um..yeah," Jack said, "it's been a weird week."

"Look, I'm sorry about cutting you off," Max said, like he had this conversation every day, "and I wanted to apologize, sincerely."

Sawyer snorted and Kate gave him a hard nudge in his side. He grew quesy for a moment, but then straightened up, embarssed.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"No problem," Max said, smiling, "anyway, Jack, I was wanting to talk to you."

"Sure," Jack said.

What'd he have to loose.

"Your father's death was a shock to us all," Max said, in a sympathetic tone, "and I know since you never had time to greive, it was even harder on you."

Jack didn't say anything, and Kate wanted so badly to glance at him, to see his reaction, but forced herself to keep her eyes on the floor, not wanting to embarrass Jack in front of his former boss.

"And with the crash and everything, it was really rough," Max admitted, "and after a month we were advised to start thinking about replacing you, just in case the worse should happen."

"Is this going anywhere?" Jack said pointly, surprising both Kate and Sawyer.

"How would you feel about getting your job back?" Max said with a grin.

"Are you serious?" Jack said, trying not to smile like an idiot.

"Yeah," Max said and shrugged, "people come and people go and well, let me be honest with you, you're missed around here."

"You're not going to be trying to 'check up on me' all the time, are you?" Jack asked, eyeing him.

This time, Jack received the nudge in the stomach.

"Hey!" He hissed, but to his surprise, Max only laughed.

"Whatever you want," Max said, "and hey, I've been reading about you. Sounds like you were something of a hero."

"Something of one," Jack said, sounding out of place.

"Well you must've been," Max said, "we got about twenty something calls demand that we give you your job back."

"How'd they know about that?" Jack said, surprised.

Kate just looked back down, innocently, and Max smiled at her.

"I mean," Jack said, correcting himself, "when do you want me back?

Max waved off the question.

"When your ready to," Max said, "take your time. Let that arm heal a little, and just, take care of yourself, all right?"

Jack nodded, still shocked at how much his life had turned around. Without a steady job, and hardly any money, he couldn't see anyway he'd be able to take in Kate, and really start their relationship, but at least now, he had a chance.

Author's Note: Okay, sorry that was extremely short, but I just wanted to get that one angsty scene in there. Don't worry, more Jack next chapter, and if next chapter's the last, more Jack and Kate. I have an idea for how I want to start up the next chapter, and I really like it. Thanks for all the reviews!

Crazyhorsegirl- looks like your going to get your wish! I have to tell you the truth though, I'm a wimp when it comes to writing romance. You'll probably never see me writing a full out love scene, though instead, filling it with lots of little kisses and fluffy comments. Hope it's good enough..

Next up, on "Famous Last Words":

What sport did Jack play in high school? That's important to consider for what Kate plans for the castaway's reunion. Suspects are long forgotten as Jack, Kate, and Sawyer get back to their old lives, though that may mean giving each other(and the landlord) hell. Just picture _Three's Company_ with two guys, not two girls. You'll see what's going on with some of the other castaway's lives as they join back together- well, some of them. A dreamer and a believer stay back home, sending their regards. Who am I talking about- you'll have to tune in to find out!

October Sky


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Famous Last Words

Chapter Thirteen

Author's Note: You might want to go back and reread the new ending to chapter twelve. Basically, Jack gets his job back. I thought I'd be able to add that into this chapter, but couldn't find the room. Sorry again!

"Any last words?" Kate said softly to Jack, a trace of sadness in her voice.

Jack felt her delicate skin push softer into his shoulder, where her arms were crossed, and she leaned against him. his once injured wrist dangled lackidasily by his side, giving him no more trouble except an ugly red scar and a pain, coincidentally before every rain shower, which, thankfully, didn't occur that often. He looked longily at the sight in front of him.

"No," he repeated dryly.

"I still don't see why they wouldn't let me drive the crane."

Jack and Kate glared at Sawyer. The sun shined around the junk yard that Jack, Kate, and Sawyer stood in. In front of them, Jack's car hung from the claws of a large crane, that would soon drop the SUV into its hellish destiny.

Nearly a month had passed since that night of mishap. Kate had yet to admit who the culprits were, in partial fear that both Jack and Sawyer would do something stupid, when neither were in condition to do so. The aftermath of that night meant Kate playing mother to Jack and Sawyer, who each took it to their advantage, spending most of their time laying on the couch(s) watching _Seinfield_ DVDs, and calling out for pizza last minute before the place closed. Kate had to admit that at first it was weird living with Jack and Sawyer, or rather, it was weird how well the three were able to get along. Most of the time.

"What?" Sawyer wailed innocently. "It's not like I don't have a license. I could operate that thing."

"You don't drive a crane Sawyer," Jack pointed out at Sawyer's stupidity.

"Same difference," Sawyer muttered.

He was just glad it wasn't his car, which was actually parked right outside, that was facing junkyard heaven. With much convincing from Kate, and shrugs from Jack, clearly reading 'I could care less what he does' Sawyer agreed to move to LA, at least for the moment. So he and Kate had traveled back down south to retrieve his car and some savings from a bank, and he was now taking up temporary residence in Jack's living room, which had its advantages and disadvantages.

Kate had proved to be the antidote for Jack's insomnia as their relationship continued to grow, which meant that Sawyer got the rest of Jack's place to himself at nights, though that also meant having to listen to their annoying giggling and banter throughout the night. However, never telling Sawyer this, some morning she woke up to find Sawyer slouched in a plastic lawn chair, sleeping on the balcony as the sun grew hot. She figured that that part of island life never left him.

But all in all, it life wasn't all that bad, and mostly the only conflict who would be the one to wash the dishes that night, and the mad dash to the bathroom the next morning. Kate solved that by buying dozens of packs of plastic plates(bringing on many jokes of Jack's kitchen becoming more of a 'concession stand') and Jack by being the first up every morning, without fail, leaving Sawyer in the cold.

Back in the present, the 'driver' of the crane was yelling at them, but it took Jack a moment to comprehend what he was saying.

"Are you ready?" The man yelled for what must've been the dozenth time.

"Oh!" Jack said, snapping himself out of whatever daze he was currently in. "Yeah. Yeah, whenever you are."

There was a creak and then a bang as Jack's ruined car was dropped amongst others with the same destiny. After a moment the 'driver' began clearing the area, and none of the three said anything, but it wasn't as though Jack's car being crushed was a depressing thing(well, maybe for Jack) it was what happened in the car, and events causing it that got to them. Finally, the tension just got too thick.

"Come on," Kate said suddenly, tugging at Jack.

"Huh?" Jack said, caught off guard.

"I've got a surprise for you guys," Kate said.

"Should we be afraid?" Jack said playfully.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Just meet me at the park."

She left out the back gate, heading opposite Sawyer's truck, and Jack watched her until Sawyer so kindly interrupted with, "There's a park around here?"

(Space)

Thirty minutes later, Jack and Sawyer were entering the community park, abandon due to the month being December, and the weather freezing cold. As the twelve days of Christmas crept by, the three agreed not to celebrate, though none of them had the heart to turn down Jack's mom's offer on a Christmas dinner. They all knew it would be hard on her, being the first Christmas without her husband, and Jack as well. Make that really hard on Jack. Kate had sensed that Jack had a hard time dealing with loss and letting go, but in the past few days, Jack had become more distant than usual. Even Sawyer had noticed.

As the two made their way down the steps leading to a walkway, they noticed Kate leaning against the fencing of a base field, smiling.

"What do you think she wants?" Sawyer whispered.

"I don't think I want to know," Jack said sincerely and didn't speed up when Kate waved them over.

Pushing herself off the fence, Kate led them to a dug out, where a bag of equipment lay.

"What's all this?" Jack asked, looking around.

"You wanna play catch or somethin'?" Sawyer said, spitting into the ground that lined the fence: a dying grass covered in cigaret buds.

Kate smiled.

"That's exactly what I want to do," she said, and stepped inside the dugout, and just as Sawyer was about to open his mouth, added, "and don't either one of you dare complain about your arm. You both agreed to try and get back in shape and all either one of you has done is sit on the couch and eat."

Opening the equipment bag, she took out an old, rusted glove and threw it to Sawyer, who caught it and looked at it like it was from another planet.

"Recognize it?" She asked him.

"Yeah," Sawyer said, studying it, "it was my grandfathers. We played when I was like five, but I haven't seen it since-"

"Your mom put it up in the attic?" Kate finished for him with a knowing smile.

"Yeah," he said and looked up at her, "how did you know?"

"Not everything was ruined in the fire," she said with some suspense, "you just didn't take the time to look."

She smiled at him for a moment as he stared at the glove and then reached into the back, taking out another and throwing it to Jack.

"Hey!" Jack said as he caught it, looking at it in recognition. "Where'd you get this?"

"Your mom," Kate said with a grin a mile wide, "a long with a few year books."

"That's not fair!" Jack whined.

"Yeah," Sawyer agreed, "why can't we dig anything up on your past? You know find out you used to be head cheerleader or somethin'?"

"Because I think you'd enjoy that a little too much," Kate said, her eyes twinkling.

"So how are you planning on arranging a three person baseball team?" Jack said, tossing the glove in the air and catching it again.

"She's not," a voice said behind him.

Jack and Sawyer turned and were surprised to find Charlie walking up towards them, Claire dragging behind them with her son held tightly in her arms. Jack looked at him, wondering if he was imagining things, or if this were some kind of weird dream.

"What?" Charlie said as he neared them. "You didn't think we'd seriously let you guys spend Christmas alone, did you?"

Jack looked back at Kate, who smiled and shrugged as she continued taking gloves and bats out of the bag, and Jack began to wonder if Kate had called up the entire island. Charlie then turned and looked at Sawyer, someone sympathetically.

"Even you," Charlie added.

"Who are you Dr. Seus?" Sawyer sniggered.

"Yeah," Charlie said, "so I guess that makes you the Grinch?"

"Give me a dog with pointy ears and you've got yourself a story," Sawyer said.

"It's good to see you again," Jack greeted, shaking Charlie's hand as he said 'yeah, you too', "how's the band?"

"Good," Charlie said with a scrunched up face, "all right- well.. in all honesty, we suck."

"Ain't exactly wonder hit wanders any more, huh?" Sawyer said, in an unusually good mood for him.

"Let's just say we won't be around for a while," Charlie said, and then shivered, "God it's freezing out here."

"Yeah, it's cold," Jack pointed out to Kate, "how're you expecting us to play in this?"

"Whatever happened to 'suck it up and deal with it?'" Kate said.

The guys just looked at her. Kate sighed.

"I got some sweatshirts out of the storage room for the football teams when I was down here yesterday," she said, and looked at Sawyer, "they're in the back of your truck."

"Just please tell me that they don't say 'I survived three months on the sodding island and all I got was this bloody shirt'," Charlie said with a groan, and Sawyer smirked.

"Don't think she's that creative," he said, and then offered to go get them.

"What turned him around," Charlie said, looking after Sawyer in surprise.

Jack shrugged.

"We're not complaining.

"Charlie!" Claire's voice hissed in coming. "I thought I told you to pack the- hey.."

She hadn't noticed he was talking to Jack and Kate.

"Sorry," Claire said sweetly, embarrassed, "I guess Charlie just doesn't realize how important it is to take care of a baby when it's cold out."

Charlie blushed and muttered under his breath, "Who am I, Mary Poppins?"

"Problems in paradise?" Jack mused as Claire set out a blanket over the cold bleachers and sat down, shivering as she held the baby.

"Paradise?" Charlie snorted. "I think the only people who are in paradise are-"

"Shannon and Sayid?" Kate said suddenly, and Charlie looked at her.

"Yeah," Charlie said, puzzled, "how did you know?"

"Here they come," Kate said, pointing to Sayid and Shannon, who were stepping out of a beat up Hatchback.

"Just don't ask him when the wedding is," Charlie whispered, "he's kind of testy about that."

They had to be the oddest looking couple around, though they both had their share of good looks, though they seemed to have the best luck in any kind of romance any of them had ever seen. Just as Sayid locked his car, a few others pulled up.

"Who all did you call?" Jack asked, looking at Kate incredulous.

"What?" An elder voice said from behind them. "you didn't noticed how your phone bill shot up this month?"

Jack looked at Kate.

"Merry Christmas, "she said, shrugging happily.

"An old man like you can play ball?" Charlie said, smirking as Locke neared him.

"There's something you have to understand about us 'old men'," Locke said as he let a bag that he had on his shoulder fall to the ground, its continents spilling out.

Jack and Charlie jumped back as dozens of baseball bats rolled to the ground.

"If we can remember it, we can do it."

"So no love life then?" Charlie teased.

"There's something you have to understand about insulting old men too," Locke said with a mischievous smile, "but I don't think you want to learn that lesson. It's good to see you again, Charlie."

He grabbed Charlie's hand in a firm handshake that jerked him towards Locke, and Jack chuckled as he noticed that Sayid and Shannon had reached them. None of them were sure what to say, and for some reason, the tension with them was greater than with any of the rivals until, finally, Sayid said something.

"So I heard you had some problems with your car," Sayid said, somewhat seriously.

Jack glanced over to the car Sayid was driving, with its horribly covered, chipped paint, and knew that four months ago, Shannon wouldn't be caught dead three feet away from that thing. Now as she stood in front of him, dressed in well-used jeans and an Old Navy hooded sweat shirt, her makeup light and her hair simply laying on her shoulders, she was almost like an entirely different person. As they all were.

"Heard you were too," Jack said in the same serious tone, and Sayid smiled, and they embraced in a brotherly hug.

"Nice to see you again," Sayid said, and nodded to Kate, who was still in the dugout, "how have you been holding up?"

"All right," Jack shrugged, "well enough to get by. How about you?"

Sayid glanced over towards Shannon, who was reuniting with Claire, and cuddling the baby. He just smiled.

"So when's the wedding?" Jack teased, and Sayid glared at him, causing Jack to laugh.

At that moment, Shannon came skipping back to them.

"You should really see Claire's baby," she said pleasantly, "he's a doll."

"I will," Sayid assured her, and suddenly, Jack remembered something.

"Anyone heard from Boone?" He asked, figuring of anyone, Shannon would.

"He called a few weeks ago," Locke informed them, coming back from helping Kate set up, "we've been keeping in touch."

"And they're coming over to our mom's for Christmas dinner with Sayid," Shannon said, and then turned to Jack, "hey, you guys should come too. Boone's mom is going through this whole 'new outlook on life thing'. I think she's already started cooking. She fired her maid. Of course, that means I have to come over and clean the garage every weekend but-" she looked up at Sayid proudly, "we could use the extra cash."

Shannon seemed like the kind of person who sat around in coffee shops and buffets all over town bragging about her relationship, though Sayid seemed more self-conscious about it, and liked to keep things on the hush-hush, which Locke noticed right off, and didn't push the conversation.

"So how's Boone doing with school?" He asked casually.

"Boone's back in school?" Jack said, wondering when this came up, and why everyone but him seemed to know everything.

"Yeah," Shannon said, "I think he's taking some kind of business class or something. He started this fall, and has exams and all that, so he couldn't come."

"Actually-"

They all turned to Boone, who was approaching them.

"I'm starting school next semester, " Boone said, correcting Shannon, "and I'm majoring in engineering."

"No medical school then?" Jack smirked.

"You gonna come over and do my homework?" Boone joked.

"So it didn't work out with um.."

"Heather," Boone reminded him, "and no. But don't worry- no hard feelings there."

An hour later, almost twenty-eight of the castaways had showed up. A lot of people Kate hadn't even known, a few she couldn't reach, and a few couldn't make it because of work, Christmas, and the most popular excuse, fear of flying.

"Come on old man!" Charlie yelled from home plate to Locke who was in pitching stance on the mound.

He had failed to tell anyone that he, too, had played some ball as a kid, for a short period of time. Locke smiled evilly and as Charlie continued to fail at distracting him, the ball whizzed by Charlie twice more, and he was out, bringing Sawyer up to bat, with Jack one first and Claire(another survivor volunteered to watch the baby) on third.

Locke threw a curve ball, throwing Sawyer off guard as it whizzed by, and some guy named Artz caught it without fail. Another pitch, and Sawyer swung and missed. A third pitch, and the ball connected with the bat, sailing out to right field, going, going- and as a gust of wind blew just at the right moment, it blew to the side, hitting the fence.

"Strike three!" Hurley shouted gleefully behind him. "Your out!"

"What?" Sawyer shouted, spinning around. "You call that foul?"

"Hey," said Artz, throwing off the catcher's mask, revealing his aging face, "I know a foul when I see one. And that was as foul as foul can get."

"Oh what do you know?" Sawyer said, his good mood faltering.

"We don't have all day!" Michael called from first.

He and Walt had flown in to spend Christmas with one of Michael's cousins. Apparently, Walt hadn't been that bothered about never saying goodbye to his step dad, who had tried and failed at reclaiming Walt as his son.

Jin was in right field behind Walt, and though he didn't have that much of an idea of what was going on, he seemed to be enjoying himself. He and Sun were working on their relationship in their new home in Korea. Having survived being nearly butchered by his 'coworkers' when he quit his job, they now lived in an apartment nearly two hours away. Jin still visited his father on the coast, and Sun hers, though Jin hadn't had the hurt to tell her the truth about her father's 'company' and had explained his injuries as a simple gang fight.

Boone in left center had admitted to still being on the meds, something both Jack and Locke could understand, but he did assure them that he was in some strict therapy, and had admitted to his mom the truth about why Shannon's father left. That called for a night of angst and a week of cold shoulders, but in the end, his mother forgave him, and cried for the next hour, saying how sorry she was, and how she should've been there for him.

Shannon and Sayid, who currently resigned in an apartment took up left and third base(Sayid on third, Shannon in left) and were taking a trip to the Middle East the next summer. After reassuring her mom that he would keep an eye out for her, and keep Shannon away from any place dangerous, and that he would make sure they flew another airline, Shannon's mom agreed to let her go, admitting that it would be a 'cultural' experience. After much teasing about how they were really going to Europe to elope, they had offered Boone a plane ticket to go with him, but Boone replied that there was no way in hell he was spending a month with there giggles along with their bantering, and at hearing this, Sawyer shot 'try living with it'.

Hurley had successfully refurnished his house, and his mother was now watching from the stands, helping take care of Claire's baby. He had told everyone not to worry about paying him back, and sulking, Boone had said the same to Jack.

Everyone found themselves on unusually good terms with Sawyer, who had told at least five different stories, ranging from him saving Jack's skin in an all out gang fight to a car chase that Stephen King couldn't write, but Jack didn't say anything, figuring it was a miracle that he had gotten the basics right.

What Sawyer had kept quiet was the parts about his house burning down, and the fact that he had quit smoking. Actually, it was more like Kate had thrown out all his cigarets after hearing the doctors(and Jack) complaining on the issue one time too many.

As Jack's team filed into the dugout, Sawyer threw himself down onto the bench, and it was obvious to anyone who watched him that something more than the game was bothering him.

"Jack, can I talk to you?" Sayid asked, pulling him to the side just as Jack was about to enter.

"Yeah, sure," Jack said, and he could feel Kate's eyes on him from across the field, "what's the problem?"

"I was just about to ask you that," Sayid said, leading Jack out of earshot from the dugout.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked, stopping.

"It just seems a little odd," Sayid commented, "one minute you and Sawyer can't stand the sight of each other, the next, your roommates."

"That was four months ago," Jack said in his defense, "and he's moving out, and Kate talked him into staying. What was I supposed to do, throw them out?"

"I'm not saying what you did was wrong," Sayid said quickly, "I just want to know the true story. What really happened last night?"

Jack studied Sayid for a moment, and then told him the real story, from start to finish, of what happened over a month ago, and by the end, left Sayid speechless until he finally smiled.

"Some things never change," Sayid said, shaking his head, "you three just can't stay out of trouble, can you? So what's life like living with Sawyer?"

"You take it day by day," Jack said and Sayid laughed, thankful he wasn't in Jack's shoes.

"Charlie stop!" Claire screeched from the field, causing Sayid and Jack's heads to whip around.

On the field, Charlie was chasing Claire at full speed around the field, and Claire was having a hard time keeping ahead of him. At last, Charlie had her cornered, and let the entire group watched as he attacked her in kisses.

"They're disgusting," Sayid commented simply, and Jack chuckled, having heard the exact same thing said to him before.

At the same time, Jack was sure that this was not the moment where Hurley's mom was saying to the baby, "and that's your mommy, and mommy's..friend". Claire pushed Charlie away as if offended, and they could've all sworn that they heard Charlie gasp as the push caused him to loose his balance, falling straight down into the sand. He was quickly up on his feet again, and chasing Claire around.

Jack watched amused as Kate joined him, trying to grab Charlie's arm to keep him away. A few others raced to join them, and Jack soon found himself feeling a little left out until he felt Sayid nearly push him into the field, and he grinned as he snuck up on Kate, grabbing her from behind.

"Jack!" She screamed, beating him on the back as he threw her over his shoulders.

"I've got her Charlie!" He shouted, and Charlie grinned at him as he too had Claire trapped, on the ground, though a pile soon formed as Michael was trying to pull him back(with many shouts of 'hey! I thought you were on my side!' and even Shannon had joined in. Before he could stop it, Jack felt himself fall hard on his knees and Kate rolled off of him, running for Claire. Recovering himself, Jack ran after Kate, and joined in on the pile of fallen survivors. A few minutes later as it finally broke up with many laughs and comments of 'we should've done this months ago', Jack wiped some sand from his face and looked up to find Kate smiling at him, and he returned it.

"Party at Jack's!" Hurley shouted out of nowhere, and Kate burst out laughing.

"What?" Jack said shooting up, but was unable to stop the crowd heading towards the parking lot. "What? No- not my place..somewhere else-"

"They've got you trapped," Kate said as she helped him up.

"Little do they know, I have no food," Jack said, and shook his head, looking up to the sky, "my landlord's going to kill me."

"Nah," Kate said, doing a good impression of Sawyer, "he hasn't thrown you out yet."

"True," Jack said, and noticed Kate watching the park's entrance, as if waiting for something, "what?"

Kate just smiled.

"What?" Jack said, anxious. "Tell me!"

"It's a surprise," she said teasingly, and leaned up, kissing him.

A few seconds later, Jack broke off.

"I hope it's better than that," he joked, and Kate hit him in the shoulder.

"Come on."

Charlie's interruption brought the end to the game, as everyone was too worn out to play anymore, and since it was nearing five-thirty with a graying sky above, most were growing hungry and restless. The survivors were now gathered in the parking lot, crowded around a silver SUV.

"What's this?" Jack asked, approaching Sayid, eyeing the car that everyone seemed so interested in.

Sayid took an object which turned out to be car keys, and dropped them into Jack's hand, and smiled.

"It's yours."

Jack just stared at him.

"What?" Jack said, thinking that maybe he should look into this hearing things problem.

"Yeah," Charlie said, "I mean come on, is there anyone here who's life you didn't say? You have more fans than I do."

Sun smiled as she brushed up against Jack and gave him a peck on the cheek which turned him rose red, and Kate gave a mock glare of jealousy towards Sun's way.

"Thank you," she whispered as she stepped back into the crowd.

Jack just stared at the vehicle.

"You got me a car?" Jack said blankly, finding no other words.

"Come on Jack," Boone chimed, "you must've saved my life what- six, seven times? I figured the least I could do would be to get you a car."

"Hey!" Charlie whined. "My money's in that thing too!"

"And mine!" Walt added and Michael held onto his shoulders.

"A few bucks maybe," he added quietly to Jack, "but he wanted to help out."

"And I've got your insurance covered," Hurley said from nearby, "just please- no more car chases."

Jack let out a dry laugh and said, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that anymore."

"And we had some help from someone else as well," Sayid said, and the crowd grew silent as they stepped aside on cue, revealing Jack's mom standing there, looking a little unsure of herself.

Jack stared at her for a moment, as if trying to decide if she were real or a mirage, but knew reality when he felt himself walking forward through the survivor's tension and embrace her in a tight hug, closing his eyes, fearing both the tears in them and the stares from the others.

"I'm sorry," he heard his mother whisper as a tear fell onto his shoulder, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Jack said quietly.

"I'm proud of you," his mother said suddenly.

Though it had sounded like something that she had been rehearsing for days, weeks, and quite possibly, months and years, Jack took no note from it, only broke from the hug and stared at her, forgetting the others. He had been waiting to hear those four words for as long as he could remember, and it didn't even matter that it had come from the wrong person. The crowd around him slowly began to break up, and goodbyes filled the air as well as the soft crying of Claire's son as Jack and his mom remained frozen, knowing that maybe after this, there was a chance of moving on, but they'd have to work on it. Together.

(Space)

Having complained that his arm hurt him, Sawyer and Kate left early, and had gotten the apartment ready for guest, who were really only Sayid, Shannon, Hurley, and Boone. Kate had ordered pizza and they ate and chatted about nothing for hours while Sawyer snoozed on the balcony. Now Jack took his place, and as Kate threw away the last of the paper plates, she opened the balcony's door and the sounds of Sawyer's tv program faded away as she walked up behind Jack, and leaned against the railing next to him. She waited for him to say something, but like most nights, he never did, leaving her to start.

"So what did you and your mom talk about?" She asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"In the car," Kate said, studying him, "you dropped her off."

"Oh," Jack said simply, "yeah. We talked mostly about my dad, it being Christmas and all. Not like I'm really missing anything, he'd always be the first to work Christmas Eve and he'd still be gone when I'd wake up the next morning. When I was a kid I used to wonder how Santa would go to both of my neighbor's house and then skip mine."

"I never had much of a Christmas either," Kate admitted softly after one of Jack's usual pauses, "it was mostly me and my mom, I'd get a present or two but we never had much money. And you know what? I never really minded either. As long as I was there, with her."

Jack was quiet for a few moments and then looked at Kate, and when he did, she noticed that his eyes were rimmed a light reddish color, and were filled with a sad emptiness.

"So are you going to help me through this?" Jack asked, his voice breaking a little, leading him to clear his throat as he continued to stare at her.

Kate could've smiled. It was the first time Jack had ever came out straightforward and had asked for help. As she thought of this, his look on her held, and her eyes stared into his desperate, helpless soul, and she nodded.

"Because you asked."

Jack smiled at her the best he could, and then looked back down to the street below, where a cat chased a mouse into a hole carved inside some bricks built into the ice cream shop that sat across the street. Kate could've sworn she heard Jack chuckle.

"So we had a pretty good crowd today, huh?" Jack said out of nowhere, startling her. "You did a good job."

"Thanks," Kate said, "I couldn't get some of them to come though. But I did get to talk to Rose."

"How's she doing?"

"As well as you could expect," Kate looked up at Jack, "I bet she could use some advise though."

"No," Jack said, "I think she has her own way of dealing with things. What about Alex? I didn't see her there, did you get to talk to her?"

"Yeah," said Kate, "wow, that one was hard. She's still living in New York with her uncle, and Danielle's moved in with them. She dropped back in school-"

"I thought she's only sixteen," Jack said, thinking of Boone's story.

"Apparently we had ourselves dealing with a high school dropout," Kate shrugged, "though I would've never guessed."

"So is she going into solo work?" Jack asked, remembering their conversations about music.

"A little solo work, I think," said Kate, "and I think that she's pitching a few song ideas to people, but now her main focus is school, and getting her life back on track- as well as keeping herself sane."

Jack chuckled.

"I guess I won't be giving any advice on that one."

"I dunno," Kate said, "I think you're doing a pretty good job. Which reminds me- about a month ago Sawyer told you to read some kind of letter. What was in it?"

"A check," Jack said, smiling, "from my dad. Ten thousand dollars from a will."

"You mean all this time we've been eating fast food for nothing?" Kate said, trying to make herself sound angry.

Jack only laughed.

"Do you want to go out to eat with Sawyer?"

Kate thought about it.

"Good point."

A roar of can laughter startled Jack, and Kate remembered the tv that was on.

"Oh yeah," she said, "and Sawyer turned your cable back on."

"My cable was never on to begin with," Jack said, groaning, "he's paying for that."

"Well when he moves out, you can go back to your old boring life," Kate teased, "speaking of which, I believe that there was something you were about to say to me before that rescue plane so rudely interrupted us?"

Jack smiled, his eyes twinkling.

"You know," he said, "I don't think I remember."

Kate hit him playfully on the shoulder for the second time that day.

"Oh, that!" Jack said innocently. "Right-"

Jack grew serious, and took Kate's hands in his, and just as he was doing so, thunder rumbled above and small sprinkles of rain dropped around them.

"The rain's going to beat ya to it," Kate said, smiling.

"Kate," Jack said finally, holding her close to him, "I want to think you for everything you've ever done for me..helping me help others, helping me help myself."

"Oh get to it!" Kate said, now smiling uncontrollably.

"And Kate," Jack continued, "I love you."

Kate's grin faltered for a split moment, only to widen.

"I knew it," she said, and caught his lips in a kiss as he slid forward, wrapping his arms around her waist as the rain pattered against the railing around them, though it was only soothing to them, though on a broken record, Sawyer just had to ruin everything.

"Hey guys!" Sawyer yelled from inside the apartment. "The power just wen out!"

Jack and Kate both laughed lightly and Kate was the first to say it:

"And he's going to have to get used to living in the city."

Jack just shook his head, chuckling, and pulled her back towards him, picking up right where they left off.

Author's Note: THE END! Tears, I know. I hope yall liked that- I tried to sum it up the best I could with the castaways and all, and of course- Jack and Kate. Thanks to everyone and anyone who reviewed(and those of you who are reading without reviewing- the shame!- lol- j/k!). You guys are awesome!

My next fic, "Happy Medium":

A lovesick Jack leads Kate on a secret jungle trek while Alex worries about herself as she starts having weird dreams again, and the rift between her and Danielle doesn't help.

Okay, worse case, the Jate plot might be held back, but I'm definitely using it at some point!

Thinking about the title? Consider this:

1. What's a medium? What are their powers?

2. What was the role of the character 'Happy Medium' in _A Wrinkle In Time_(I'm trying to add this one in)

3. What is a happy medium?

Crazy title, I know, but it's all I got right now. Thanks again and I hope you guys come back! Aren't yall glad I didn't apply myself to these lyrics and stop here, like I planned?

_And these are the last words I have to say _

_It's always hard to say goodbye _

_But now it's time to put this book away _

_Ain't that the story of my life _

Famous Last Words, Billy Joel

October Sky


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